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COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



















The Most Wonderful Story in 

the World 


AMY LEFEUVRE’S 

POPULAR STORIES 


The Most Wonderful 
Story 

A Life of Christ for Little Children. 
Illustrated, Cloth, $1.50. 

“ Probable Sons ” 

75th thousand. 12mo, cloth, 75 cts. 

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Illustrated, i2mo, Cloth, 75 cts. 

A Puzzling Pair 

With illustrations on every page, 
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“there had been a long journey of four days” 













The Most Wonderful 
Story in the World 

A LIFE OF CHRIST FOR LITTLE CHILDREN 


BY 

AMY LE FEUVRE 

Author of “Probable Sons,” “Teddy’s Button,” Etc, 



New York Chicago 

Fleming H. Revell Company 

London and Edinburgh 


Copyright, 1922, by 
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 




New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. 
London: 21 Paternoster Square 
Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street 

JAN *6 ’23 

©Cl A600944 

"IvP 1 


TO PARENTS 


I AM sending out this simple story of our Lord’s 
Life upon Earth, hoping that it may interest 
the very little ones. I have tried to write it, 
as I should like to read it to children of three or 
four, and upwards. 

And so I have not touched so much upon the 
doctrinal teaching of our Lord, as upon His simple 
words; and some of the Parables that can be easily 
understood by children. 

I have refrained from giving the Apostles their 
prefix of Saint, for I have kept to the Bible words 
as much as possible. 

I have only tried to describe our Lord’s Life in 
simple language. There is much that can be added 
by the reader if desired. But I hope that as the 
little ones listen to the “Old, old story” of Jesus 
and His love, that He may be more understood and 
loved by those who were so dear to His heart. 

Amy le Feuvre. 


“An Angel paused in his outward flight 
With a seed of love, and truth, and light, 

And cried: ‘Oh, where shall this seed be sown 
That it yield most fruit, when fully grown? * 
The Saviour heard, and He said as He smiled: 
‘ Plant it for Me in the heart of a child.’ ” 


Contents 

I. The Baby in the Manger ... 9 

II. The Boy in the Temple .... 23 

III. Jesus Begins His Work .... 33 

IV. Healing the Sick.49 

V. The Sermon on the Mount ... 61 

VI. Wonderful Miracles .... 73 

VII. The Little Maid, and the Feast of 

Five Thousand .... 88 

VIII. The Transfiguration .... 104 

IX. Stories of the Kingdom . . .117 

X. More Wonderful Stories . . . 132 

XI. The Good Samaritan and the Two 

Rich Men.144 

XII. Lazarus Raised from the Dead . .158 

XIII. Jesus and His Last Passover . . 169 

XIV. Jesus Upon the Cross . . . .184 

XV. A Joyful Day. 197 

XVI. Last Days.212 


5 






Illustrations 


FACING 

PAGE 


“ There Had Been a Long Journey of Four 
Days”. Title 

“Let Down Your Net and Fish” ... 42 

“Get Up and Carry Your Mat and Walk” . 82 

“He Took the Little Hand that was Growing 
Cold”. 96 

“He Heard that Jesus the Nazarene Was 
Coming Along”. 138 

“Bearing in His Soul the Sin of All the 
World”. 184 

“Bright, Shining Forms were There” . . 196 


7 












\ 





•J 


























I 


THE BABY IN THE MANGER 

I WANT to tell you of the most wonderful story 
in the world. Have you heard that there is 
a very happy Home for little children up 
above the blue sky ? 

It is where the good kind God lives, Who made 
your little body, and sent you to live with your 
father and mother. 

God loves little children very much. He has a 
lot of little children now with Him in His Happy 
Home called Heaven. They are always happy and 
good. They never cry, and they never get hurt 
or ill. One day you will see them, I hope, and 
play with them. 

Now in Heaven with God, lives His dear Son 
our Lord Jesus Christ. And my story has to do 
with Him. I want you to hear it from the begin¬ 
ning. All the people and children in the world 
were very unhappy. They were not happy and good 
as God wanted them to be. And they did not love 
God, and they forgot all about Him and His Happy 
Home called Heaven. They quarrelled, and cried, 
and hurt each other, and made each other very un¬ 
happy indeed. And God was very sorry for them. 
9 


10 


THE BABY IN THE MANGER 


He told them that unless they were good, they could 
never come and live with Him in Heaven. 

A very wicked spirit called Satan, the devil, made 
them naughty. He did not like God, and he did 
not want them to go to Heaven. So one day God 
asked His dear Son Jesus if He would leave 
His Happy Home in the sky, and go down and 
save these people and children from being shut out 
of Heaven. Jesus said He would be very glad 
to go. He would try to make them want to be good, 
and would save them from the punishment of sin 
by being punished instead of them. You will under¬ 
stand more about this when you get older. And 
Jesus said He would like to come down on earth 
and be bom as a little baby. He would come into 
the world just as you did. 

And this is the story I am going to tell you now— 
the story of Jesus Christ, after He came into this 
world. I hope you know what this world means. 

It is the place in which we live; the fields, and 
gardens, and Streets, and houses; the hills, and the 
sea, and all the trees and flowers. It is a very big 
place, and a lot of people live in it; a great many 
more people than you have ever seen or heard of. 

Now my story is beginning. Will you listen to 
it ? A long, long way off from you now, there were 
once some little lambs playing about in a field, with 
their mothers. There was a kind man who always 
took care of them, and he was called a shepherd. 
He led them about every day to fields where the 


THE BABY IN THE MANGER 


11 


grass was nice, and green; and he took them down 
to brooks of water, so that they might drink when 
they were thirsty. When it grew dark, he lighted 
a fire; because wolves, and foxes, and wild beasts 
would come out after dark, and try to kill the little 
lambs, and eat them for their supper, but they were 
very frightened of a fire, and always kept away, 
when they saw the red flames leaping up into the 
sky. 

One very cold dark night, several shepherds were 
sitting over their fire together. The sheep were all 
lying down near them, and the little lambs were 
cuddling close to their mothers to keep safe and 
warm. Some of the shepherds were talking; others 
were sleeping as they took it in turns to watch their 
flocks. Suddenly one of them cried out: 

“ Look up into the sky! What is that ? ” 

All the shepherds looked up. The sky was dark, 
but the stars were out. Just up above them, was a 
wonderful bright light; it grew brighter and 
brighter; it was brighter than candles, or gas, or 
electric light; brighter than the big fire in front of 
them, brighter than the sun itself! 

And then they saw someone coming down from 
the sky in white shining dress, and two big white 
wings, and his face was smiling and beautiful. He 
came nearer and nearer them. The sheep and lambs 
kept quite still, but the shepherds were very fright¬ 
ened ; they had never seen a man come down from 
the sky before. And one of them cried out, and 


12 


THE BABY IN THE MANGER 


one of them started to run away, and gome of them 
almost tumbled backwards; and then this beautiful 
shining person spoke to them, and they found that 
he had just come straight down from Heaven. He 
was one of God’s angel messengers, who brings mes¬ 
sages to us from God. 

He spoke to them so gently and kindly, that they 
left off being frightened. 

“ Fear not! ” he said. 

And then he told them he was bringing them good 
news; he said it would bring joy to all the people, 
the men, and women, and little children, who heard 
it. 

And what do you think he told them? That a 
little baby was just born in the town close to them, 
and the baby was going to be their King and 
Saviour. The shepherds had often heard of a won¬ 
derful King coming into the world one day, who 
would save them from all the wicked people who 
wanted to hurt them. And the angel told them 
that He had come* already, and if they wanted to 
see Him, they would find Him lying in a manger 
in a stable; a little tiny baby dressed in swaddling 
clothes. The shepherds listened; and then sud¬ 
denly, as he finished speaking, they heard the most 
wonderful music and singing. They looked up, and 
the whole sky was full of beautiful shining angels. 
They were all singing together, and their sweet 
voices sang out in the silent night these words: 


THE BABY IN THE MANGER 1$ 

“ Glory to God in the highest, and on earth 
peace, good-will towards men.” 

Wouldn’t you like to have been there and heard 
them sing % 

The shepherds loved it. When the song was 
finished, the angels went up higher and higher into 
the sky, behind the stars, until they reached Heaven. 

Now it was all silent and still again; but the 
shepherds were very excited and pleased with the 
good news they had heard, and they said: 

“ Let us go and see this little Baby. We will go 
into the town and find Him, just as we were told.” 

Away they went as fast as they could. They 
left their sheep, but it was nearly daylight now. 
They hurried over the fields, and along the road; 
and then when they got into the town, they soon 
found the stable, and in it was the little Baby’s 
mother, who had her arms round Him, and the 
father close by, and the little Baby Himself. Such 
a beautiful little Baby, with shining holy eyes, and 
a sweet smile on His tiny lips. The shepherds 
wondered He was not in a better house, but they 
were told the reason. The inn or house where 
people lodged, was crowded out with a lot of people 
who had come to stay for a day or two, and there 
was no room for the Baby’s father and mother; so 
they had to put them into the stable with the cows 
and oxen, and Mary, the mother, had laid her darling 
Baby on the soft hay in the manger. He seemed 
quite happy. Now, do you know who this little 


14 


THE BABY IN THE MANGER 


Baby was ? He was God’s dear Son, and His name 
was the Lord Jesus Christ. The poor shepherds 
were very happy when they saw Him. I think they 
knelt down, and kissed His tiny hands and feet, and 
then thanked God that He had sent His angels to 
tell them where they could find Him. And when 
at last they left the stable, they were so full of joy 
and wonder, that they told everyone they came 
across about the darling little Baby who was going 
to be their Saviour. 

When the little Baby was eight days old, His 
father and mother took Him into the big town Jeru- 
salem, four miles away, to a most beautiful Church 
there, called the Temple. It was there, He was 
given His Name Jesus, and presented to God. 
Mary was carrying her little Son very carefully in 
her arms up the beautiful marble steps of the 
Temple, when suddenly an old man called Simeon 
came towards her with outstretched arms. People 
made way for him to pass, for they knew him. He 
was an old man, and very good and holy. People 
always listened to him when he spoke, and they 
were silent now, for they knew that he was going 
to say words that God put into his mouth. He took 
the little Baby out of His mother’s arms and held 
Him tenderly in his own. And then he looked up 
into the sky and thanked God for letting him see the 
little Baby who was going to save and bless the 
whole world. He told God he was ready to die 
now that he had seen Him. And then he gave the 


THE BABY IN THE MANGER 


15 


little Baby back to His mother, and he blessed her, 
and her husband, and told her what the little Baby 
would do, when He grew up. His whole face shone 
with joy and delight as he spoke. 

Mary and Joseph were very astonished at his 
words; they were just going on, when a very old 
woman, coming into the Temple suddenly, stopped 
directly she saw them, and began to pray aloud to 
God and praise Him. She was a very holy old 
woman and, like Simeon, lived so close to God 
that she was able to give people messages from Him. 

She lived in the Temple, and God had told her 
who this little Baby was, so she turned to all the 
people near, and told them what she knew about 
Him. It was a wonderful time for Mary and 
Joseph. And when the service was over, and they 
took their little Baby back again, they talked to¬ 
gether about their Child, and wondered at all that 
they had been told that day about Him. It seemed 
that a good many people knew that He was no ordh 
nary child. 

Only a day or two after that, they had some more 
visitors at the stable. The stars were out in the 
sky when they came. And one very big shining 
star was just above the stable. When Joseph saw 
a long procession coming up the highroad, he could 
not believe they were coming to see the little Baby, 
for these were not poor men like the shepherds, but 
very rich great men, and very clever. They came 
on camels, and had a lot of servants with them. 


16 


THE BABY IN THE MANGER 


They had travelled a long, long way, and were 
strangers to everyone. Their clothes were made of 
silk and satin, and they carried bags, and caskets 
of gold, and all kinds of treasures. When Joseph 
saw the camels stop in the road outside, he went to 
the door, and there he saw these strangers all talk¬ 
ing very excitedly and happily, and pointing up 
to the star. One of them came in at the door and 
said: “ Is He here ? The King of the Jews ? We 
have seen His Star in the east, and are come to 
worship Him. We have been searching Jerusalem 
for Him. We went to Herod the King. He sent 
for us. He wanted to hear about the Star and 
where the Child would be born. And when the 
priests looked in their Holy Books, they said the 
King of the Jews would be born in Bethlehem. 
King Herod sent us on here to find the Baby, and 
told us to let him know when we had found Him, 
so that he could come and worship Him.” 

Then the other strangers came in. Mary was 
sitting down with her Baby on her lap, and when 
they saw Him, they fell down on their knees and 
worshipped Him; and then they brought out their 
presents—gold, and very precious scented herbs. 
They did not seem astonished to find Him in such 
a poor miserable shelter; they only thought of Him 
as the greatest King that had ever lived. Mary was 
learning not to be surprised at anything now. She 
smiled upon h§r little Baby, and gazed into His 
wonderful innocent eyes, and prayed to God that 


THE BABY IN THE MANGER 17 

He would take care of Him, and teach her how to 
bring Him up. 

The strangers told her and her husband a won¬ 
derful thing. Just as they were starting from 
Jerusalem, they looked up into the sky, and saw 
the same Star that had been in their country far 
away, now moving on in front of them. They were 
very wise men, and knew all about the stars, so they 
followed it at once, and it moved across the sky till 
it came to the stable at Bethlehem. There it 
stopped, and they knew that they had found the 
little Child at last. I daresay they expected to find 
Him in a palace, but God wished Him to be born 
very poor, so that the poor and humble people would 
know that He had known and felt what poverty was 
like, and would be able to feel for them. Then 
these rich men went off to find lodgings for the 
night. I expect the people who kept the inn, and 
who had no room for Jesus, were very glad to take 
these strangers in. They knew they would be well 
paid for doing it. 

In the night they had a dream. God came to 
them, and told them they were not to go back to 
Herod, and tell him where the little King was; and 
so the next morning, they took another road, and 
went back to their country by quite a different way. 

And the very next night, Joseph had a wonderful 
dream. He woke up and told Mary about it at 
once. His face was grave, and his eyes anxious, as 
he told it to her. 


18 


THE BABY IN THE MANGER 


“I saw an angel quite plainly,” he said; “he 
came to me, and told me to get up, and take you 
and the Child away at once. We must go to Egypt 
and stay there, till he comes again to us, and tells 
us we can leave. He told me that our King Herod 
will try to kill our Baby.” 

“Let us go at once, if it is God’s will,” said 
Mary; “ He will take care of us all.” 

She wrapped her little Baby up very warmly, for 
the nights were cold; and she knew their journey 
would be a long one. Joseph went across to the inn, 
and asked if he might have a donkey for Mary 
to ride upon, as she could not walk such a long way. 
Poor people always travelled on donkeys in those 
days. He got the donkey. The gold which the wise 
men had given them helped them now. I expect 
the donkey was in the stable with them. They did 
not wait for the morning to come, and the sun to 
rise, but they set off then and there, in the middle 
of the night. Poor Mary longed to get away from 
the cruel king, who wanted to kill her little Son. 
And as Joseph walked by her side, and looked up at 
the still starlit sky, I think he must have prayed 
earnestly to God, that He would take them safely 
on their way, and prevent any wicked people from 
hurting or harming them. He had asked no ques¬ 
tions ; he had obeyed the angel at once. I daresay, 
though they did not see them, they had a guard of 
angels round them, all through the lonely moors, 
and sandy deserts. They travelled very slowly, and 


THE BABY IN THE MANGER 


19 


got food and shelter as best they could on the way. 
It was a rough journey for the tiny Baby, and His 
gentle young mother, but they reached Egypt at 
last, and Joseph found a little house to live in; and 
then he started work, for he was a carpenter, and 
could make all kinds of useful things for people to 
buy. The little Baby was quite safe now; every 
week He grew bigger and stronger. He cried some¬ 
times, like little babies cry when they are uncom¬ 
fortable, or hungry, or tired, but He never cried in 
temper, He was always smiling and happy; and if 
His mother did not want Him to play with things 
that might hurt Him, He gave them up to her at 
once. Sometimes Mary would look at Him, and 
wonder if He was listening to heavenly music, or 
seeing things up in Heaven that she did not see. 
His eyes were so rapt and sweet and serious, and 
His smiles so very, very sweet. She and Joseph 
felt that they were strangers in a strange land; and 
often used to talk about their own country, and 
wonder when they w r ould be able to go back to it. 

And then at last, one night, before their little 
Son could talk or walk, Joseph had another dream. 
His first dream had made him feel very unhappy 
when he woke up. This one made him feel- very 
happy. 

“ The angel has come again to me,” he said to 
Mary. “He has told me to get up, and take you 
and the Child back to the land of Israel, for the 


'20 


THE BABY IN THE MANGER 


wicked people who wanted to kill the Baby, are now 
dead, so there will be no more danger.” 

How glad Mary was! She soon got ready to leave 
her little home in Egypt. Now she would be seeing 
her friends and relations again; she would be able 
to show them her lovely Boy. 

It was a much happier journey going back; but 
when it was at last over, and they were getting near 
Jerusalem, they met some people, who told them 
that the wicked King Herod’s son was king now, 
instead of his father, who was dead. 

Joseph felt anxious and afraid. 

“ He will remember that his father wanted to kill 
our Child,” he said to Mary; and then they began 
asking the people questions, and they were told a 
terrible story. 

It appeared that just after they had left Bethle¬ 
hem, on their way to Egypt, Herod had sent his 
soldiers to kill every baby that they could find in 
Bethlehem; and not only all the babies in that 
town, but in the villages round. The wicked king 
had been expecting the wise men from the East, 
back in Jerusalem, to tell him where the little Baby 
lived who was bom King of the Jews. And when 
they did not come, and he heard that they had gone 
home by a different way, he was very angry indeed. 
He was determined that the Holy Child should not 
live, so he told his soldiers to kill every baby in the 
neighborhood of Bethlehem. He was so afraid of 
a king growing up to take his throne from him. 


THE BABY IN THE MANGER 


21 


He little thought how soon he would die, and how 
impossible it was to kill God’s own dear Son before 
He willed it. It was a terrible story to hear! How 
all the dear little babies under two years old had 
been torn from their mothers’ arms, and killed be¬ 
fore their eyes. I expect Mary shuddered as she 
heard it, and clasped her own darling Child closer 
than ever to her breast. 

Joseph felt as if he could not go back to Jerusa¬ 
lem or Bethlehem again. He did not know what to 
do for the best; and then once again he had a 
dream, and in it, God told him where to go. He 
turned away from Jerusalem, and went round it, 
and up the country a long way, till he came to a 
little village, or small town, called Nazareth. There 
he found a little house, and settled down. He had 
his carpenter’s shop, and Mary had her Baby. The 
little Boy grew more beautiful in her eyes every 
day. He walked and talked now; He played with 
other children; He tried to help His father work 
in the shop. He was always happy and good. When 
He played with other little boys, He always let them 
choose the games; He never seemed to want to have 
His own way. If they teased or tried to quarrel 
with Him, He turned to them so lovingly and 
sweetly, that they had to stop doing it. He was 
always ready to trot about on errands for His 
mother, and He never, never once disobeyed her, or 
vexed her by doing wrong things. He loved to sit 
on her knee and talk about God and Heaven. She 


22 


THE BABY IN THE MANGER 


used to look into His sweet little face as He knelt 
in prayer by her side, and wonder if He was an 
earth child at all, or if His little heart was always 
in Heaven, His proper Home. 

And so some happy peaceful years passed, and 
our Lord Jesus Christ began to grow a big Boy. 

“And through all His wondrous Childhood, 

He would honor and obey, 

Love and watch the lowly mother 
In whose gentle arms He lay. 

Christian children all must Ibe 
Mild, obedient, good as He. 

For He is our childhood’s Pattern, 

Day by day, like us, He grew. 

He was little, weak, and helpless. 

Tears and smiles like us He knew. 

And He feeleth for our sadness, 

And He shareth in our gladness.” 


II 


THE BOY 11ST THE TEMPLE 

I T is a lovely day in spring; the sun is shining 
in the blue sky; the birds are singing and the 
sweet-smelling flowers are all springing up in 
the fields, and on the sides of the green hills round 
the country village, where our Saviour lived when 
He was a little Boy. There is a great bustle in Our 
Lord’s home; Joseph is in his best clothes; he is not 
working in his shop. That is shut up. A donkey 
is tied to the post outside the little house. Mary 
is almost too busy to eat her breakfast; she is pack¬ 
ing up baskets of food, and shutting up the house, 
and getting herself ready for a journey. Every year 
she and Joseph went away from home for a week 
or longer. They left their little Boy behind, in the 
charge of some of their neighbors. The village wa9 
nearly empty during that time; all the people who 
were strong and well, went to the City of Jeru¬ 
salem to keep the Feast of the Passover. It was 
held in the beautiful church called the Temple, 
where Jesus had been taken as a little Baby. And 
all the boys, as soon as they were thirteen years old, 
were expected to go with their fathers, and take 
part in the wonderful sendee that was held there. 
23 


24 


THE BOY IN THE TEMPLE 


Jesus knew all about this service; His mother and 
He sometimes talked about it. I daresay He often 
told His mother how much He would like to go to 
it. Sometimes in the summer evenings, when all 
Mary’s work was done for the day, she would sit in 
the garden under the shade of the trees, and tell her 
little Son the story of the Passover. 

And this is what she told Him. 

Years and years ago, God’s people lived in a 
strange country that did not belong to them. The 
country was called Egypt, and there was a cruel 
king in it, who made them work very hard for him, 
and gave them no money for doing it. They were 
whipped, and beaten, and ill-treated all day long; 
their little boy children were killed, and they were 
very, very unhappy. They cried to God; He sent 
them a man named Moses, to save them from the 
cruel king, and bring them right out of the country, 
into peace and safety. The king tried with all his 
might to keep them. He would not let them go, so 
God began to punish him in dreadful ways. He 
sent sickness and death among the animals and 
people; and at last, when the king was still ob¬ 
stinate, God told Moses that He would send one of 
His angels from Heaven, to kill the eldest child in 
every house in the land. Then Moses was told how 
God’s people could be saved. Every father of a 
family must take a little lamb and kill it; then he 
must sprinkle his doorposts outside his house, and 
also sprinkle the top of the door with its blood. Late 


THE BOY IN THE TEMPLE 


25 

in the evening, he must get all his family ready 
dressed for a long journey, for Moses was going to 
take them away from the wicked king that very 
same night. And while they were getting ready, 
the lamb was being cooked ready to be eaten for 
their last meal in Egypt. They were to eat, with 
their sticks in their hands, and their walking shoes 
on their feet, perfectly ready to start on their jour¬ 
ney. 

While they were doing this, the Angel of Death 
was flying from house to house. 

But the angel passed over every house that had 
the blood sprinkled upon its door. Everybody was 
safe inside it. In all the other houses, the eldest 
child dropped down dead. The cruel king lost his 
eldest child as well as everyone else; and he was 
in such a state of terror and fright, that he sent a 
message to Moses to take God’s people away, as 
quick as ever he could. 

And this was done; they all escaped from the 
cruel king, and went a long, long way into a coun¬ 
try that was given to them by God. 

But God wanted the people to remember the 
night they were saved, and brought out of Egypt; 
so once every year they had to kill the lamb and 
eat it, and sprinkle its blood outside their houses. 
This was called the Feast of the Passover, and 
everyone who could, went up to Jerusalem to take 
part in the Feast. It was called the “ Passover,” 
because it was kept in memory of the night when 


26 


THE BOY IN THE TEMPLE 


the Angel of Death passed over the houses of the 
people who had sprinkled the blood on their doors, 
and eaten the lamb, as God had told them to do. 

As Mary told this story to her Son, -she little 
thought how much it had to do with Him. 

She did not understand then, that He was one 
day going to be killed like the lamb, so that the 
whole world might be saved from death, and have 
eternal life. 

And I do not think that when He was a little 
Boy, Jesus knew this Himself. We are not told 
that He did. The Lord Jesus would listen with 
grave and earnest face to this story. He seemed so 
wise and thoughtful for His years, and so anxious 
and eager to take part in it, that though He was now 
only twelve years old, His father had decided to 
take Him with them to the Feast. There was a 
glad eager light in the Boy’s eyes, as He helped His 
mother in her preparations for the journey. At last 
they started; Mary seated herself on the donkey, 
and her parcels of provisions were packed up and 
strapped to it; they did not journey alone this time, 
as they had done when they fled into Egypt, and 
Jesus was a little Baby. Now, whole families of 
their friends and neighbors were going along the 
same road; the children and women riding on don¬ 
keys; the husbands and grown-up sons walking by 
their sides, and leading the donkeys along. How 
the boys loved it! They would go across wide flat 
moors or plains, with corn-fields stretching on either 


THE BOY IN THE TEMPLE 


27 


side; then across a river to the hills beyond. When 
night came on, they would camp out, sometimes by 
a well of water, or under some rocks or palm trees. 
And at last, after about four days’ travelling, they 
would catch sight of the gold roof, and marble walls 
of the Temple rising high above the walls of Jeru¬ 
salem, and shining in the sun. We can picture our 
Lord’s eager delight when He first saw Jerusalem, 
the Holy City. His mother Mary had another joy 
as they began to get near to Jerusalem. In one of 
the little villages outside Jerusalem she had a cousin 
living; she was much older than Mary, but she had 
a little boy, only about six months older than our 
Lord, and his name was John. 

I do not expect the little boys had ever met each 
other before this time; they lived so far away from 
each other; John’s father was a priest, and he used 
to help in the Church services. Little John never 
mixed with other children; he was brought up dif¬ 
ferently to other boys. His parents were very good 
and holy people, and God sent an angel when little 
John was born, to tell them that He was going to 
make him one of His special servants and messen¬ 
gers; and that he must be brought up in a very 
careful and special way. So they trained him as 
God wished. Later on, we shall hear more about 
him, but I am quite sure they would take him to 
the Passover as soon as he was old enough; and per¬ 
haps this was his first appearance at Jerusalem. 
We can imagine how glad Mary was to meet her 


28 


THE BOY IN THE TEMPLE 


cousin again; how they talked about their darling 
sons; and how the boys made friends with each other 
at once, and talked together of the wonderful visit 
they were going to make. And then Jerusalem was 
reached, and they all took part in the Temple ser¬ 
vices, and in the Feast of the Passover. There 
were thousands of people in Jerusalem; rich people 
and poor; and many enjoyed meeting their friends 
and acquaintances whom they never saw at any other 
time but this. Our Lord Jesus, like many other 
boys of His age, was allowed to go about by Him¬ 
self, and when the day came for them to go home, 
His mother did not trouble to keep Him by her side; 
and she and Joseph were so taken up with the com¬ 
pany of their friends, that she did not miss Him 
upon the road home. But when the day came to 
an end, and dusk set in, she began to look about for 
Him. She went to little John’s mother, but found 
that she had not seen Him; then she went to some 
other relations of hers; they knew nothing of Him; 
then she and Joseph began to get frightened; they 
knew that robbers came down from the hills, and 
robbed and killed travellers, if they were alone and 
unprotected. Her Child was only a little Boy; He 
might have taken a wrong turning and got lost; He 
might have fallen into the river and been drowned; 
He might have had a bad tumble and hurt Himself. 
She was very angry with herself for not having 
thought about Him, and seen that He was with her, 


THE BOY IN THE TEMPLE 


29 

when they left Jerusalem. I expect she thought 
He had gone on in front with His little cousin John. 

“We must go back to Jerusalem at once and look 
for Him/’ she said to Joseph. “ I could not go to 
sleep to-night in peace, if He were not with us.” 

So Joseph took her back; it was a long day’s 
journey to Jerusalem, and by the time they had 
reached the town again, it was three days since 
they had seen their little Son. They did not look 
about the streets for Him. Mary knew He would 
not be there. They went straight back to the Tem¬ 
ple. She reminded her husband how the Boy 
seemed as if He could not tear Himself away from 
God’s House. The other boys liked to wander about 
the town looking into the shops, and buying things 
at the bazaars. Jesus seemed wrapped up in the 
beauty and silence of the Temple. As they dragged 
their tired feet up the Temple steps, Mary and 
Joseph asked everyone they met, if they had seen 
their little Son. 

And at last someone told them that there was a 
child in a classroom, where some good and learned 
men sat, and taught the Bible to any who wanted 
to learn it. 

“ He is astonishing them all by the wonderful 
questions He asks them! They have never had such 
a clever pupil before.” 

“ Oh, that must be Him,” said Mary, and trem¬ 
bling with eagerness, she hurried into the room, 
where the class was being held. She was very tired 


30 


THE BOY IN THE TEMPLE 


and anxious, and when she saw her dear little Son 
in the midst of the clever old scholars, sitting there 
with a heavenly smile upon His face, and an eager 
light in His beautiful eyes, she did not draw Him 
into her arms and kiss Him, as many a mother 
would have done, but she scolded Him. She was 
tired and anxious, and a little cross. He had never, 
never given her a moment’s anxiety before; and she 
could not understand it now. 

She said: “Why have you behaved like this? 
We have been looking everywhere for you. We 
have been miserably unhappy about you.” 

He got up from His seat at once, and went up to 
her. Then He put His little hand very gently into 
hers, and looking up at her with a sweet tender 
look in His eyes, He said softly: 

“ Why have you been looking for Me ? Don’t 
you know that I must be about My Father’s busi¬ 
ness ? ” 

His mother and father looked at Him with puz¬ 
zled eyes. They could not understand what He 
meant. But they said no more to Him, only took 
Him away with them. And He went with them 
quietly. He had much to think over during His 
homeward journey. The remembrance of the beau¬ 
tiful Temple, its services, and the many truths He 
had been learning from the good teachers there, 
filled His heart and mind. 

Mary was full of thought, too. What did He 
mean by His Father’s business? He did not mean 


THE BOY IN THE TEMPLE 


31 


Joseph’s business. He was not learning about 
carpentering in the Temple. And then she 
remembered how several times He had called 
God His Father, and she began to see that His 
desire to learn more about God and Heaven, was 
perhaps the business His father, God, wanted Him 
to do. She did not say anything about this; she 
only treasured up in her heart all His little sayings, 
and remembered them all her life long. 

And Jesus went back to His village home and 
played as usual with the other children in the 
streets, and upon the hills. And He helped His 
father more and more in his workshop, and worked 
for His mother, and obeyed her in all things. We 
are told He grew bigger and taller; and as He grew 
bigger, He grew more wise, more holy, more like 
God. 

Everybody loved Him in the village, and it was 
because He loved everyone. If boys fought together, 
or a big boy bullied a little one, the little boy 
always turned to Jesus. He would put His arms 
round him and comfort him, and then He would 
talk so sweetly and lovingly to the bully, or to the 
one who was in fault, that they could not be angry 
any more. He used to carry burdens for everyone, if 
they were weak, and old, and tired. He never said 
a cross or angry word to anyone. He was always 
smiling and happy. He loved to be among the 
flowers in the fields; and sometimes, after wander¬ 
ing away by Himself for a long time, would come 


32 


THE BOY IN THE TEMPLE 


home with such shining eyes, and such a rapt smile 
on His lips, that His mother would ask Him whom 
he had met. 

“ I have been talking with My Father/’ He would 
say. And Mary would look at Him with hushed, 
adoring eyes, and say to herself: 

“ That means, He has been praying to God! ” 


m 

JESUS BEGINS HIS WORK 


W E have talked a little about Jesus 
Christ’s cousin John. When be was 
a little baby, God told his parents 
that he would be a great preacher when he grew up; 
and that he would prepare everybody for the coming 
of God’s Son, the Christ, whom all the Jews ex¬ 
pected one day to come and rule and reign over 
them. When John grew up, he went away by him¬ 
self into a lonely desert; a place with hills, and 
rocks, and caves, but with no houses or people in it. 
He lived in a cave; he ate the fruit on the trees; 
and the honey which the bees made, and stored 
away in holes in the rocks. He also ate the dried 
bodies of a large insect called a locust. He had a 
very long beard and very long hair. He had never 
had his hair cut in all his life. He dressed himself 
in a rough hairy garment made of camel’s skin, and 
when he one day came out towards the edge of the 
desert, and began to speak to the first people he saw, 
I expect they were rather frightened at his looks. 

But they soon told their friends, and neighbors, 
that a strange man, a prophet, was beginning to 
33 ' y 


34 


JESUS BEGINS HIS WORK 


preach; and crowds went out of the towns and vil¬ 
lages to see and hear him. Children, boys and girls, 
men and women, rich and poor, all flocked out to 
the desert. They were curious to see this strange 
man. They knew he was different to themselves. 
God had told him he must be. God had spoken to 
him, and told him what to say to the people; and 
he would begin all his sermons or talks with crying 
out in a very loud voice: 

“ Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at 
hand.” He told everyone they must he sorry for 
their sins, and give them up, and turn to God. And 
then he told them that Someone much greater and 
more holy than he was, was coming after him, and 
that He was Christ the Son of God. 

Everyone began to be interested. They lis¬ 
tened to him, and many of them began to be sorry 
that they had not been pleasing God, only pleasing 
themselves, and they asked John to help them and 
tell them what to do. He took them down to a rush¬ 
ing river; and in a quiet spot, where the water 
made a shallow pool, he told the people who were 
really sorry for being wicked, to walk into the 
water with him. He wanted to teach them, that 
just as our bodies are washed by clean water, so 
their hearts must be washed clean by God. And 
he called this baptizing them. Hundreds of people 
were baptized in the river—soldiers, and tax col¬ 
lectors, and travellers, and merchants, and poor 
working men, Every day fresh people came to hear 


JESUS BEGINS HIS WORK 


35 


John preach, and to be baptized, and they called 
John, John the Baptist. 

One day a young man came up among the 
crowds, and listened very quietly and attentively to 
John. Then He stepped up in His turn, and told 
John He would like to be baptized. John looked at 
Him. He seemed quite a stranger to him, but there 
was something so sweet about His face and Voice, 
such an earnest, holy look in His eyes, that he knew 
at once He was ready for baptism. He took Him 
into the water; and now something very wonderful 
happened. After He had been baptized, He came 
up out of the river praying. He was looking up 
into the sky and speaking to God, and John could 
not take his eyes off Him. Suddenly John saw a 
flash of light in the sky, as if it were opening; and 
then a shining, beautiful white dove seemed to fly 
right down, and rest upon His Head. At the same 
time a Voice was heard. Not John’s voice, or any 
voice in the crowd on the river’s bank. It came 
right down from the opening in the sky, from which 
the beautiful dove had come down. And the Voice 
said these words: 

“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased.” 

It was the Voice of God. John knew at that 
same moment whom he had been baptizing. It was 
Jesus Christ the Son of God. John had been told 
by God before, that when he saw a dove come down 
from the sky, and rest upon anyone, that person was 


36 


JESUS BEGINS HIS WORK 


Christ, the One for whom he had been preparing 
the way. And now God’s Voice made it quite clear. 

Yes, this quiet young man was Jesus. He was 
grown up now; and God had told Him that the 
time had come for Him to leave His village home, 
and begin His work. So he had left His mother 
and come out to the Wilderness. 

He and John had not met each other since they 
were little boys. They were strangers to each other; 
but now John knew who He was. Directly our Lord 
Jesus was baptized, He slipped away quietly through 
the crowds of people, and disappeared. He did not 
go home. God wished Him to go right away from 
everyone by Himself, and stay away for a long time. 
So He now walked away from John, along the 
river’s side for a long, long way, until He came to 
very lonely country. It was a wild wilderness, and 
not at all a nice place to stay in. Jesus went right 
into it, till He was miles and miles away from any 
house or people. There were great mountains and 
rocks all round Him. At night He heard the roars 
and howls of wild beasts roaming about in search of 
something to eat. Ho beautiful flowers or trees 
with fruit on them grew in this wilderness. It 
was full of stones, and sand, and dry, withered 
bushes. In the day, the hot sun shone so fiercely 
down, that it seemed to scorch and burn everything 
It touched. At night it was very cold, and our 
Lord had only the bare ground to sleep upon, and 
hard, rough stones for His pillows. There was no 


JESUS BEGINS HIS WORK 


37 


food to be got anywhere. He was soon cold and 
hungry and, tired. 

At the beginning of the time, Jesus had been 
getting very close to God. He was preparing Him¬ 
self for the' trials and temptations and troubles that 
were coming to Him now. He talked to God and 
God talked to Him; and when He was praying, He 
did not seem to feel His hunger, or the cold. But 
by and by there came to our Lord the wicked 
spirit called Satan. He had always been God’s 
enemy, and he hated His dear Son. He was al¬ 
ways trying to keep people from loving God, and 
pleasing Him. He wanted to prevent them from 
going to Heaven; and he hated Jesus Christ com¬ 
ing into the world. He was afraid people would 
love Him and follow Him, and Satan wanted to 
keep them away from Him. Satan is still in the 
world now; we can’t see him, but he whispers wicked 
thoughts into our minds, and shows us how to be 
naughty. He makes boys and girls quarrel, and 
lose their tempers and sulk, and tell lies. He is 
always tempting people to do wrong. All the time 
that Jesus had been a little Boy, Satan had tried 
to make Him naughty. But he had never once 
done it. I think that as a little Child, Jesus had 
so many angels guarding Him, that Satan had not 
been able to get near Him. He had tried, and 
tried, to make Him disobedient and untruthful, but 
it was of no use. Though he tried his hardest, 
Satan had never been able to make Jesus sin. Now 


38 


JESUS BEGINS HIS WORK 


it wa9 God’s will that Satan should try to tempt 
Jesus again, and the way was made easy for him 
to do it. I think God for a little time, withdrew 
the band of guardian angels. He wanted Satan to 
know that however strong he was, Jesus Christ was 
stronger, and that it was quite impossible, being the 
Son of God, for Him to give way to Satan, and do 
anything wrong. Jesus was lonely, and tired, and 
weak from hunger. Satan thought he had a very 
good chance of tempting Him to be wicked. 

And so he waited till Jesus was really fainting 
from hunger; and then he came to Him, and point¬ 
ing to the heaps of stones close by, he said: 

“ If Thou be the Son of God, command that these 
stones be made bread.” 

Satan reminded Jesus that God could do every¬ 
thing, and'that if He were the Son of God, He 
could too. Why should He go hungry, when He 
was able to turn stones into bread in one minute? 
Jesus knew that it was God’s will that He should 
eat nothing in the Wilderness, and it would be 
wrong to disobey God’s will. He had always 
trusted in God to supply His wants. So He said 
very quietly: 

“ ‘ It is written that man shall not live by bread 
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the 
mouth of God.’ ” 

Then Satan did a very wonderful thing. He is 
able to do things that we cannot do; and Jesus 
suddenly found Himself caught away through the 


JESUS BEGINS HIS WORK 39 

air, and put upon one of the very small towers of 
the beautiful Temple in Jerusalem. He stood on 
the very top of it, and Satan was close beside Him. 
They were so high up, that the streets, and houses, 
and people, in Jerusalem, were all far below them, 
and looked like little dots on the ground. 

“Now,” said Satan, “if you’re the Son of God 
throw yourself down. Show me what you oan do. 
It is written in the Bible that God gives you angela 
to take care of you, and bear you up safely, so trust 
yourself to them.” 

Would it have been wrong for Jesus to do this? 
Yes, for God did not want Him to show His power 
in such a way. Jesus had never been proud or 
boastful as a little Boy, and He was not going to be 
so now. 

He answered very quietly: 

“ It is written again, i Thou shalt not tempt the 
Lord Thy God!’” 

Then Satan tried to tempt Him once more. He 
knew that Jesus had come into the world to be a 
king, and he knew that lots of the people were so 
wicked, that they would prevent Jesus being King 
over them. Satan himself would keep them from 
being His subjects. Now he brought Jesus up to 
the top of an enormously high mountain. It seemed 
to look over the whole world. They could see coun¬ 
try after country, and kingdom after kingdom, all 
stretched out below them. They saw the most beau¬ 
tiful palaces and gardens, and temples; they saw 


40 


JESUS BEGINS HIS WORK 


kings with their bands of soldiers, with their armor 
all shining in the sun; and then Satan turned to 
Jesus: 

“You want to be King; you can be King over 
all these! All these things will I give You, if You 
will fall down and worship me.” 

Jesus knew that He would have a very difficult 
time in getting a kingdom in this world. Satan was 
going to try to turn everyone against Him; he was 
going to fight against Him, with all his might and 
strength. If Jesus worshipped Satan, He would 
have no difficulties at all; people would crowd to 
Him, and make Him their King. 

Again Jesus spoke: 

“ Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, ‘ Thou 
shalt worship the Lord Thy God, and Him only 
shalt thou serve.’ ” 

It was no good; Satan saw that He could get no 
power over Jesus. He could not make Him do or 
say a wrong thing; and in great anger he went 
away. 

The time of temptation was over. Beautiful 
white shining angels flew down from Heaven. Now 
Jesus could eat, and drink, and rest Himself. I 
expect the angels fed Him, and sheltered Him from 
the hot sun, and warmed Him when it grew cold at 
night. How delighted they must have been to come 
down from Heaven, and wait upon their Lord and 
Master! 

Jesus had been in the Wilderness nearly six weeks. 


JESUS BEGINS HIS WORK 


11 


When He came away, He felt strengthened and 
ready to begin His Work. He had been baptized; 
He had shown Satan that He was stronger than he 
was, and would not sin; and now He was going to 
begin to teach people, and help them to love God. 
So when He came out of the Wilderness, He went 
hack to Galilee. I expect His mother tried to get 
Him to come home again and live with her; but 
He had to tell her very gently and lovingly that 
now she must give Him up, and let Him do “ His 
Father’s business.” And He began to go about the 
villages preaching in the same way that John had 
done, saying, “ Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven 
is at hand.” 

One sunny morning, Jesus walked down to the 
seashore. The great blue water stretched away 
from the sand, the little fishing boats were drawn 
up on the beach. Some fishermen had been out all 
night catching fish. Now they were sitting down 
in their boat, which was fastened to the beach, mend¬ 
ing their nets. There were great holes in them, 
and they wanted to have their nets ready, for when 
they went out fishing the next time. A little 
farther along the shore, two young men, who were 
brothers, were just casting their nets into the sea. 

Jesus came very near these two brothers; and 
then He suddenly called them to Him. 

“ Follow Me,” He said; “ I will make you fishers 
of men.” 

Now these two men had seen Jesus before. One 


42 


JESUS BEGINS HIS WORK 


of them, called Andrew, had been listening to John 
the Baptist, when he was preaching, and Jesus had 
passed by. John suddenly broke off his sermon, 
and pointing to Jesus, he said: “Behold the Lamb 
of God.” The young fisherman was curious; he 
and another young fellow followed Jesus; and sud¬ 
denly Jesus turned round, and asked them what they 
wanted. Andrew said very meekly: “Master, 
where do You live ? ” 

Jesus said, “ Come and see,” but I am sure He 
smiled when He spoke, and that smile made the 
young men want to know Him. It was so full of 
love and tenderness. They went to the house where 
He was lodging, and stayed with Him all day, lis¬ 
tening to His talk. Then Andrew went home, and 
was so full of this wonderful stranger, that he told 
his brother Peter about Him, and brought him to 
Jesus. 

“ Come,” he said. “ We have found The Christ.” 

That was some little time ago; now when Jesus 
called to them with His wonderful smile, their 
hearts leaped with joy. They had often talked 
about Him, since they had first seen Him; they had 
said to each other how much they would like to live 
with Him, and go about with Him, wherever He 
went. Only they did not think He would want 
them. Now they knew that He did want them. 
They dashed down their nets. Who would want to 
go fishing when J esus wanted them to follow Him! 
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JESUS BEGINS HIS WORK 


43 


themselves up'—no—they left everything, forgot 
everything, except this one thing: Jesus had said 
to them “ Follow Me,” and they meant to do it 
Away they went, with glad hearts! 

Jesus still continued His walk along the seashore. 
He was walking by the Sea of Galilee, and there 
were a good many fishermen about. lie very soon 
came to the men in the boat, who were mending their 
nets. He stopped, looked at them in His loving 
way, and called to the two young men, James and 
John, to follow Him. They jumped out of the boat, 
leaving their father, and joined Peter and Andrew. 
Now Jesus Christ had four young men, whom He 
called His disciples. They went everywhere with 
Him, and He taught them a great deal about God, 
and tried to explain to them why He had come down 
to earth, and what He was going to do. They all 
loved Him very much; they could not help it. He 
was so strong and true and tender! He never lost 
His temper when they did stupid things, and if they 
were tired, or cross, or unhappy, He comforted and 
cheered them up. These young fishermen were not 
the only ones who became His disciples. One day 
Jesus called to a man collecting money for taxes. 
He was sitting down with his money all round him, 
and yet directly he heard Jesus say “ Follow Me,” 
he jumped up from his seat instantly, and followed 
Him. His name was Matthew. There were seven 
others. Perhaps some of them came to Jesus of 
their own accord; we are not told. But the^ all 


44 


JESUS BEGINS HIS WORK 


went about with Him, everywhere, and they all 
loved Him, and believed in Him. Would you not 
like to have been one of them ? One day Jesus was 
invited to a wedding, and His disciples were invited 
too. 

The wedding was taking place in a little village 
called Cana, not very far from Jesus’ old home 
Nazareth. I think the bride or bridegroom must 
have been some relation of Jesus’ mother, or they 
might have been great friends. In any case, she was 
invited, too; and I should think she must have been 
very glad to see her dear Son again. She had never 
left off missing Him, and was very glad and proud 
when she heard people talking about Him. “ He is 
going to be a great Man,” she would say. I think 
she must have told her friends, that it was a great 
honor for Jesus Christ to come to their wedding. 
They were very glad to have Him. As a little Boy, 
and a young Man, Jesus Christ had been liked by 
everyone who knew Him. Now, He and His disci¬ 
ples were sitting down as guests, at the wedding 
feast. There was a lot of nice food to eat, and wine 
to drink, but there were a great many people there, 
and soon, to the family’s dismay, the wine began to 
run short. There wasn’t enough to go round. Mary 
was let into the secret. Perhaps one of the servants 
who was waiting at table told her; perhaps the 
bridegroom’s mother might have whispered to her in 
her anxiety. She wanted to help them if she could. 
She had been accustomed to turn to Jesus, if she 


JESUS BEGINS HIS WORK 


45 


was in any difficulty, so she now slipped over to 
where He was sitting, and whispered to Him that 
there was no wine. Something seemed to tell her 
that He would help them about it. And now that 
He was going about preaching, she thought He 
might begin to do wonderful things, to show that 
He was the Son of God. 

He looked at her gravely; He knew that she ex¬ 
pected Him to show His power now, but though she 
was His mother, she ought not to have told Him 
when to do things. He said very quietly that the 
time had not yet come for Him to do anything. 
Mary slipped quietly back to her seat, but on the 
way, she spoke to the servants who were waiting at 
table. She pointed to our Lord, and said: “ What¬ 
soever He saith unto you, do it.” 

She knew that Jesus had never failed to help any¬ 
one in need. And, though it may seem a little thing 
to us, it would have brought great grief, and a cer¬ 
tain amount of disgrace, to the poor bridegroom, if 
some of his guests had gone away not having been 
offered any wine. 

Mary was not wrong to hope for Jesus’ help. 
Near the door of the room were six great stone 
water-pots. They were kept there to hold water 
for washing travellers’ feet when they came in from 
a long walk, or journey, and washing their hands 
when they wanted to do so. The Jews were very 
clean people, and always used to wash their hands 


JESUS BEGINS HIS WORK 


46 

and feet, before they ate their meals. These water- 
pots were empty now. The water had been used out 
of them. Jesus turned round very quietly, and 
beckoned one of the servants to Him. He went at 
once. Then He said in a low tone, but in a tone 
of command: 

“ Fill the water-pots with water.” 

The servants hurried at once to do what He 
told them. The guests were so busy eating, and 
talking, and laughing, that they did not see what 
was going on; but Mary did. Her eyes never left 
her Son’s face. A smile came to her lips now. She 
saw that Jesus was going to help. 

When the water-pots were full to the brim, of 
water, Jesus spoke to the servants again: 

“ Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of 
the feast.” 

Now, would the servants obey Him? It was a 
very strange thing to be told to do. 

Nobody drank water in that country. It was 
generally rather impure and unwholesome. The 
juice of the grape, kept for some time, made very 
nice wine, and everyone always drank it. 

The governor of the feast was the bridegroom's 
friend, who was arranging everything for him, and 
looking after the comfort of his guests. He was 
always supposed to be served first, so that he could 
taste the different wines and dishes, and see if they 
were nice enough to give to the guests. The serv¬ 
ants might have felt afraid of offering plain water 


JESUS BEGINS HIS WORK 


47 


to the governor; but something in Jesus’ voice and 
manner made them feel it would be all right. They 
had been told by Mary to obey Him; and without 
a word, they hoisted the great jars upon their 
shoulders, marched up the room, and began pouring 
out into the governor’s cup. As they poured, they 
saw it was water no longer, but beautiful wine. 
Then they went round, and filled all the guests’ 
empty cups. There was enough for everyone, and 
to spare. The governor liked his wine so much, 
that he called the bridegroom to him and said: 

“ Everybody gives their best wine at the begin¬ 
ning of the feast, and then when men have well 
drunk, that which is worse. Thou hast kept th# 
good wine till now.” 

He meant by that, that the wine which Jesus had 
made out of the plain water, was much better and 
nicer than the wine they had first. How astonished 
the bridegroom and his family must have been! 
How grateful to Jesus for helping them in their 
need! I am sure the news soon spread from one to 
another. “ Where had this wine come from ? ” 
“ Out of water-pots.” “ One of the guests had- told 
the servants to fill the pots with water and then 
pour it out.” “ Who was He? ” “ Jesus, the Son 
of Mary, who was here.” “He had lately been 
going about the villages, telling the people strange 
and wonderful things about God and Himself.” 
“He must be a prophet then. He had worked a 
miracle. No one could make wine out of water 


48 


JESUS BEGINS HIS WORK 


unless God helped Him! ” And so the people all 
talked and wondered. It was the first miracle that 
Jesus had done, but it was not the last; and every 
day now, He seemed to do something more wonder¬ 
ful. 


IV 


HEALING THE SICK 
FTER the wedding was over, Jesus took 



His disciples to Capernaum, and His 
mother and some of His relations went 


with Him. I expect they wanted to see if He 
would do any more wonderful things, but He did 
not stay in that little town very long. He talked, 
of course, to the people, and preached to them about 
God and His Love, and then it was time to go up 
to Jerusalem for the Passover. You remember 
how Jesus had gone up to His first Passover when 
He was a little Boy of twelve years old. Now he 
was much older, and God was telling Him to use 
His Power as Son of God, to show everyone that 
He was no common man, but that He had been 
sent down from Heaven for a purpose. 

When He and His disciples arrived in Jerusa¬ 
lem, they found the town very full and crowded, 
as it always was at this time. And some people 
found it a very good time to make money. They 
took all the sheep and oxen they had to sell, and 
doves, and lots of shop wares; and instead of sell¬ 
ing them outside in the street, they actually took 
them into the outside part of the Temple, God’s 
House! Nobody seemed to mind; so instead of a 


50 


HEALING THE SICK 


quiet hushed place where people began to think 
of God, and pray to Him, and prepare themselves 
to worship Him, now it was just a market-place. 
The shopkeepers knew everybody was bound to 
pass that way into the Temple, and so they would 
see their goods and buy them; the beautiful court¬ 
yard, with its marble floors, and pillars, was now 
crowded with a noisy bustling crowd, all buying, 
and selling, and shouting out to each other. The 
oxen were stamping about, and bellowing, and the 
sheep bleating. People could not hear themselves 
speak for the noise and din; and as for thinking 
of the solemn Passover, they were only thinking 
of what they meant to buy, and quarrelling with 
those who were trying to cheat them. 

Jesus looked round upon all this, with grief, 
and sorrow, and Holy anger in His heart. Was 
this how people were treating the Holy House of 
God? He must stop it at once. * * * And 

suddenly, in the midst of all the noise and con¬ 
fusion, the people saw a strange young man, hold¬ 
ing a scourge or whip of small cords in His Hand, 
and driving out with great quickness and strength, 
all the persons who were selling. The oxen and 
sheep followed; the people who had the doves in 
their cages, were told to take them out immedi¬ 
ately; the people who changed money—all were 
driven out of the Temple’s courtyard—and as He 
drove them out, Jesus said in a loud voice so that 
©veryone could hear Him: 


HEALING THE SICK 


51 


“ It is written, ‘ My house shall be called the 
house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of 
thieves.’ ” 

Jesus astonished everyone very much by what 
He did, and made them very angry. But He never 
minded people being angry; He was, of course, 
afraid of no one, and always said, and did, what 
was right, however people disliked it. 

And He felt it was right to show them how 
wicked they were to buy and sell, and make such 
a noise, in God’s Holy House. 

The Priests of the Temple were so angry when 
they heard of what Jesus had done, that they mad© 
up their minds they would try to kill Him, but 
they were rather afraid of all the people, because 
they were crowding after Jesus everywhere now, 
and believed that God had sent Him to preach to 
them. They thought He was a great prophet. 

When the Passover was over, and Jesus had re¬ 
turned into His own part of the country again, 
the village people began to follow Him about. He 
taught and preached to them in the little village 
churches which were called synagogues, and now 
He began to do something wonderful. This was 
to make sick people well. There was a man one 
day, who came into church, and he had a terrible 
illness. He would fall into fits of passion, and 
try to kill himself, or anyone who came near him. 
Sometimes he was quiet for a little time, and just 
like anyone else; then this fit would come upon 


52 


HEALING THE SICK 


him, and no one could hold him or do anything 
with him. It was supposed in those days that the 
wicked devil, Satan, who had tempted Jesus in 
the Wilderness, had sent a very wicked spirit into 
this poor man’s body, and he made him say wicked 
words and do wicked things. Well—this man had 
crept into church, and listened quietly, while 
Jesus was reading the Bible, and explaining it. 
Then suddenly he cried out in a loud voice: 

“ Let us alone. What have we to do with Thee, 
Thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art Thou come to de¬ 
stroy us? I know Thee who Thou art, the Holy 
One of God.” 

The people round him were very frightened, but 
Jesus held up His hand, and in His grave voice, 
He said rather sternly: 

“ Hold thy peace, and come out of him.” 

He spoke to the wicked spirit in the man, and 
the spirit had to obey Jesus. He threw the man 
down on the floor, and then left him, and went 
back to Satan; and the man got up quite quiet, and 
gentle, and was cured for ever from that day. He 
never had those terrible fits again. The people 
were awestruck. They could not understand how 
Jesus could cure the poor man by a word. They 
said to each other: 

“ What power He must have, that even wicked 
spirits do what He tells them, and come out of a 
poor afflicted man.” 

They went out of church and told everybody 


HEALING THE SICK 


53 


about it, and soon all the villages round began to 
bear of Jesus, and to talk about Him. 

Just after Jesus bad left the little church, He 
went to Simon Peter’s home. Though Peter fol¬ 
lowed Jesus about everywhere, he did not give up 
his home altogether, and often went back to his 
wife, and sometimes went out in his boat, and 
caught fish for her. Now Jesus was coming to his 
house to rest, and have some food, and sleep there. 
When they got to the house, Peter’s wife came to 
the door crying. She was in great trouble. Her 
mother was staying with her, and had suddenly 
been taken very ill. She had caught a fever, and 
was so ill that they thought she was dying. No 
doctor could do anything. Then Peter turned to 
Jesus; he and his wife asked Him if He would 
come in and see her. He went in at once. She 
had been tossing about in bed, not knowing any¬ 
one, but moaning and crying. Her head and hands 
were as hot as fire; she seemed as if she could not 
keep still. Jesus stooped over her, and laid His 
strong tender hand upon her hot restless one. Then 
He said a few words, and told the fever to leave 
her. Instantly the old woman grew quite quiet; 
she looked up at everyone, and seemed as if she 
had just wakened out of a restful sleep. She was 
quite well; all the fever went out of her, and she 
was so well, that she insisted upon getting out of 
bed, and helping her daughter get a meal ready for 
Jesus. We are told that she “ arose and ministered 


u 


HEALING THE SICK 


to them.” How wonderful, was is not ? One min¬ 
ute or two ago she was lying on her bed very ill, 
now she is walking about and serving a meal. How 
pleased and thankful Peter and his wife must have 
been! People soon hear about wonderful things, 
and everyone in the village heard about this, that 
day. In the evening, just before the sun set, they 
brought out all the sick people in the place, and 
crowded to the door of Peter’s house, hoping that 
when Jesus would come out, He would make them 
well. Perhaps Peter was not pleased to see this 
crowd round his house. He may have wanted 
Jesus to have a quiet rest after a busy day, but our 
Lord never sent anyone away who needed help; 
He never thought of Himself, or of what might tire 
Him. He stepped outside, and He laid His loving 
hand on first one sick person, and then on the other. 
•Some of them were lame, walking on crutches; 
some of them were nearly blind with very sore 
eyes; some were deaf, and could not hear; and 
some were mad, with wicked spirits inside them. 
All these were made quite, quite well! What a 
happy village that was that night! We can see the 
people going home with their poor little sick chil¬ 
dren, now skipping along by their sides, quite well 
and happy; and the old people walking as straight, 
and brisk, as anyone, having thrown away their 
crutches. 

A hymn tells us about it: 


HEALING THE SICK 


55 


“ At even, ere the sun was set, 

The sick, 0 Lord, around Thee lay; 

O in what divers pains they met! 

O with what joy they went away! ” 

The crowds still gathered round, and would not 
move away till it was quite dark. 

Very early the next morning, Jesus slipped out 
of Peter’s house quite alone. He wanted to have 
a quiet time to Himself, and He knew His days now 
would get busier and busier. So before it was 
light, He went right away among some lonely 
hills, and there He knelt down and prayed to His 
Father, God. I think this quiet time was the hap¬ 
piest time in His day. He loved talking to God, 
and getting strength for His poor body from Him. 
Above all, He got stronger and stronger in His 
soul when He prayed, as all of us must do, when 
we follow His example. And as He prayed, the 
sun began to show himself, and the day got lighter 
and brighter. It had been very grey, and still be¬ 
fore, as if everything was hushed while Jesus 
prayed. Now the birds began to twitter, and leave 
their nests, and the sheep began to bleat, and pres¬ 
ently, creeping up softly through the trees, came 
Peter, and Andrew, and the other disciples. They 
had come with a. message for their master. Crowds 
of people were gathering together again, demand¬ 
ing to see our Lord. 

His disciples told him: 

“All men seek Thee.” 


56 


HEALING THE SICK 


Jesus rose from His knees. He knew His quiet 
time was over. He could only be alone, when other 
people were comfortably in tbeir beds fast asleep. 
He did not show any impatience, though He had 
had no breakfast yet. He said quite happily and 
cheerfully: 

“ Let us go into the next towns, that I may 
preach there also. For therefore came I forth.” 

And every day after that, He went from village 
to village, all over Galilee, making sick people well; 
trying to comfort them if they were in sorrow or 
trouble, and talking to them about God and His 
love. He preached in the little village churches, 
and wherever He went, crowds of people followed 
Him. 

One day, very soon after this, as Jesus was walk¬ 
ing along a country road with His disciples, a poor 
man came along in the middle of the road. His 
clothes were in rags, his mouth was covered with a 
bit of cloth, and in the distance he could be heard 
calling out one word over and over again. It was 
“ Unclean, unclean! ” 

When people saw him coming, they all ran away 
from him, and got out of his way. He was very 
ill of a dreadful illness which he could give to any¬ 
one who came near him, and that was why he had 
to call out “ Unclean.” It told the people who was 
coming. His illness was called leprosy, and he 
was called a leper. He had sores all over his body, 
and no doctor was able to make him better. He 


HEALING THE SICK 


57 


was not allowed to go to church, with other peo¬ 
ple, or to live with them, or to talk with them, for 
fear he should pass his illness on to them. Now 
this poor man had heard of Jesus, and of how He 
was making all the sick people well, and he thought 
that if he could only get near Him, he would be 
cured too. But he did not know how to manage 
it, for the crowds round Jesus would never let him 
get near the Saviour. And then on this morning, 
he saw Jesus coming along the road, and the crowds 
following Him. The poor leper, when He got near, 
began to run to Him as fast as he could, and then 
fell down on his knees before Him. The people 
shrank back. The disciples were horrified. How 
dared this wretched leper come so near their dear 
Lord and Master! 

The leper lifted up his sad, miserable eyes to 
the tender loving face of Jesus, and he said: 

“ If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.” 

Jesus looked down upon him with His wonder¬ 
ful smile; His eyes were full of pity and love. He 
did not shrink away from him. He put out His 
hand, and touched him. Touched the rags, and the 
sores, without any feeling of disgust. And He 
said these words: 

“ I will. Be thou clean.” 

There was a stillness and hush in the crowd be¬ 
hind Him. Could Jesus actually cure a leper, whom 
no one else in the world could cure? 


58 


HEALING THE SICK 


Yes, almost directly the man got up; he pulled 
the cloth off his mouth, he turned up his sleeves 
to look at his arms, and his hands, and he found 
that all the sores and spots had gone. His skin 
was cool, and sweet, and fresh, like everyone else’s, 
and he was a cured man! 

Can you see his delight! How excited he must 
have been! And then Jesus told him to do two 
things; one was, to go straight to the priests and 
show himself to them, so that they could see he was 
really quite well, and would allow him to worship 
God in church with other people now. And the 
other thing was, that he was to go home, and not 
tell anyone what had happened to him. 

He did go and show himself to the priests; but 
he couldn’t help telling people who had cured him, 
and there was great astonishment and wonder in 
his city; the people came out in such crowds to see 
Jesus, that He had to get away from them. He 
went away into some of the lonely hits of desert 
country near, but even there, people came to Him. 
It seemed as if He could never be left alone now 
for five minutes. It was about this time that He 
went back to the village in which He had lived 
most of His life, which was called Nazareth, but a 
very sad thing happened there. One day He stood 
up in the little church and began to tell them who 
He was, and what the Bible said about Him, and 
how true it was. Some of the people, instead of 
listening, began to whisper among themselves: 


HEALING THE SICK 


59 


“ Why, * He’s only Jesus, the carpenter’s soil; 
we’ve seen Him grow up from a boy. He has no 
right to be talking like this.” 

And then, when Jesus wem on to speak very 
sternly to them, telling them that there was danger 
of their missing God’s blessing for them, by their 
want of trust and belief in Him, they were filled 
with furious anger. They got up from their seats; 
they seized hold of Him, and dragged Him out 
into the street, and along the road, determining to 
kill Him, and stop Him speaking to them about 
their sins. These wicked men and boys took Him 
to the edge of the high hill on which their village 
was built, and then they meant to push him down 
from the top, and dash him to pieces on tlie road 
below. They were all so excited, screaming at the 
top of their voices, that when they came to get hold 
of Jesus, they found He wasn’t there. They were 
only seizing hold of each other! Jesus, whom no¬ 
body could hurt, unless He allowed it, had quietly 
slipped through the crowd, and away from them. 
He went on His way, as if nothing had happened. 
As they would not listen to Him, He left them, and 
went to another town, a long way off. But it was a 
sad thing for the people in His own village to be 
the first to try to kill the One who had come to be 
their Saviour. I should think it must have made 
His mother, Mary, very unhappy; we read of her as 
living at Capernaum after this, so she thought it 
best to move away. Nazareth was one of the vil- 


60 


HEALING THE SICK 


lages where the sick people were not cured. They 
had driven away the One Person who could have 
made them quite well. It was not only foolish of 
them, but very, very wicked. 


V 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 


A LL kinds of people came to see Jesus, to 
talk to Him, and to be helped by Him. 
One night, when it was dark, and every¬ 
one was in their houses, and the shutters were up, 
and the lamps lighted inside, Jesus heard a gentle 
knock at the door of the house in which He was 
lodging. Everyone else was in bed, but Jesus knew 
who it was, and He opened the door at once. A 
tall man stood outside. He was not a poor man. 
His clothes showed he was rich, and they showed 
that he was a man who was very important. He* 
was one of the most important people among the 
Jews, those who made the laws of the land, and 
who judged the people, and punished the wicked 
ones. He was a Pharisee, and he was a ruler of 
the people. His name was Nicodemus. Jesus wel¬ 
comed him in, and made him sit down. He did not 
show any surprise that he had come to Him so late 
at night. He knew why he had done it. Nico¬ 
demus was afraid of people seeing him. He had 
heard about Jesus, and about the wonderful cures 
He had made. He had seen some of the people 
61 


62 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 


who had been made well. He had mixed with the 
crowd, and heard Jesus speak, and tell them about 
God, who had sent Him to teach them about Him. 
And he wanted to talk to Jesus himself. He began 
at once asking Him questions. When you are older, 
you can read for yourself all that he said to J esus, 
and all that Jesus said to Him. Jesus told him 
that if he believed in Him, he would never, never 
die, but live for ever with God in Heaven. He did 
not mean that his body would not die. When he 
went to Heaven, he w T ould not want that part of 
him, so he would leave it behind him on the earth. 
Jesus told him a lot more. He listened most atten¬ 
tively, and went away as quietly as he had come. 
The other great men, the rulers, did not like J esus, 
and would have been angry with him for visiting 
Him. I think that after that night, Nicodemus did 
believe in Jesus, and tried to do what He told him 
to do. He spoke up for Him once, when other peo¬ 
ple were abusing and talking against Him; and we 
hear of him once again coming forward to do some¬ 
thing for Jesus, but we will hear about that, later on. 

One very warm morning, J esus and His disciples 
were taking a long journey. They had no carriages 
to take them, no horses or donkeys to ride. They 
had to walk, and their feet got very tired and sore. 
They had been in a place called Judea, and now 
they were going back to Galilee. The sun was blaz¬ 
ing hot. They could not keep under the shady 
trees all the way; and they were not only tired, but 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 


63 


hungry and thirsty. It was getting near twelve 
o’clock, the hottest part of the day. Generally, peo¬ 
ple stayed in their cool houses, and ate their dinners 
at that time. Jesus and His disciples had no food 
with them, and they at last came outside a little 
town called Sychar. The people who lived in that 
town, were not good people at all. They lived 
just as they liked, and they were called Samaritans. 
They did not worship God properly, and God’s peo¬ 
ple, the Jews, did not wish to know them, or have 
anything to do with them. 

Just before they came to the town, there was a 
shady clump of trees, and among these trees, was 
a stone well. Water could be got out of it by any¬ 
one who wished. Jesus was very tired by the time 
He reached the well. His disciples begged Him to 
rest quietly there in the shade, while they went into 
the town to buy some, meat for their dinner. He 
sat down by the side of it, on a stone seat made 
there. He was tired, and rather sad. He had just 
heard that His cousin John the Baptist had been 
seized by Herod the King, and put into prison. It 
seemed as if the Jews, whom Jesus had come down 
from Heaven to help and to save, did not want Him. 
They ill-treated His messenger John, and stopped 
Him from preaching, and His own neighbors and 
friends in Nazareth, had turned against Him. 

As He was thinking of these things and resting 
His poor tired body, a woman came up to the well 
to get some water. She had come out of the town, 


64 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 


and she looked surprised when she saw a stranger 
at the well. Jesus looked up at her, and asked her 
gently if she could give Him some water to drink. 
She had her pitcher, and the rope with which she 
could let it down into the water, and draw it up 
again. Jesus had no cup or jug, and however thirsty 
He was, He could not get Himself any water: the 
well was deep, and the water far down in it. The 
woman looked at Him in astonishment. She knew 
from His dress and look that He was a Jew. Then 
she said that she wondered at Him asking such a 
favor from her, as He was a Jew. All Jews hated 
the Samaritans, and would not come near them, or 
touch them. Very gently He spoke to her of some 
living water He would give her, if she only asked 
for it. 

She said: “ Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with, 
and the well is deep. From whence, then, hast Thou 
that living water % ” 

Jesus told her the water He gave people did not 
come from that well. The water in the well did 
not satisfy people for ever. They quickly grew 
thirsty again, but this water that He could give, 
satisfied people for always. They never got thirsty 
again, and it would be like a well inside them, 
always making them feel fresh and happy. The 
woman said: “ Sir, give me this water that I thirst 
not; neither come hither to draw.” 

Then Jesus, seeing she did not understand that 
His water was for her soul, and not for her body, 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 


65 


began to talk to her about her life, and all the wrong 
things she had done. 

The woman was astonished that He knew all 
about her, and said that He must be a prophet 
Jesus went on talking to her. And then- she said: 

“ I know that Messias cometh which is called 
Christ. When He is come, He will tell us all 
things.” 

She wanted to show Jesus that she was not an 
ignorant woman. She had heard the Bible read, 
and she knew that Messiah was coming into the 
world one dav. 

Then Jesus said very quietly: 

“ I that speak unto thee am He.” 

Just at that moment, His disciples came back to 
Him. They wondered to see Him talking so ear¬ 
nestly to this poor Samaritan woman, but they did 
not like to say anything. I daresay they showed 
the woman how they despised and disliked her. She 
went off very quickly when they came; but she left 
her water-pot behind her, and directly she had gone 
the disciples spread out the food they had bought 
before Jesus, and begged Him to eat. He told them 
He had better things to do than eating, that He 
would much rather try to get people to love and 
serve God, than anything else in the world, xlnd 
very soon the woman came back, bringing a lot of 
her friends from the town with her. She had told 
them of the wonderful stranger, who had been talk¬ 
ing to her, and who knew all that she had done, 


66 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 


though she had never seen Him before, and she said: 
“ Is not this the Christ ? ” 

They came to see Him, and so believed in Him, 
that they begged Him to come into their town, and 
talk to them. 

Something in Jesus’ loving, holy face, in the tones 
of His soft earnest voice, and in the wonderful 
words He spoke, made these poor Samaritans long 
to hear more. And though His disciples did not 
like it at all, Jesus went into the town, and stayed 
there two days, teaching the people about God. 
Many of them gave up being wicked, and turned to 
God and believed that Jesus was His Son, and the 
Saviour of the World. 

After this Jesus went back to the little village, 
Cana, where He had turned the water into wine. 
He had not been there very long, before He was 
told by His disciples, that a very rich man, a noble¬ 
man, had come to see Him, and seemed in great 
trouble. 

Jesus went to him at once, and the man, though 
he was a very wealthy man and in high position, 
almost knelt to Jesus. He seemed distracted with 
grief. 

“ I have a son,” he said; “ he is very, very ill, 
at the point of death. The doctor can’t cure him. 
They say he must die. I heard of the wonderful 
cures You have made, and I have come straight off 
to You. I beseech You, come back with me and heal 
him,\ 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 


67 


Jesus looked at him, and His eyes were full of 
pity. He knew how the father loved his boy, and 
what agony it gave him to think he was going to 
lose him. But Jesus sighed as He said to the noble¬ 
man: 

“ Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not 
believe.” 

“ Sir,” cried the poor father, almost weeping, 
“ come down, ere my child die.” 

Every minute seemed precious to him. Every 
minute was hastening his son’s death. Unless Jesus 
came back with him instantly, it would be too late. 
He had brought his servants, his carriage and 
horses; he wanted our Lord to come at once. 

Jesus looked at him, and then a wonderful smile 
came upon His face. 

“ Go thy way, thy son liveth.” 

Now, would the nobleman believe Jesus’ word, 
and go home without Him ? 

Yes, indeed, he did. Looking up into Jesus’ 
face, and seeing such love and pity in it, and hear¬ 
ing the glad certainty of His voice, he went straight 
away, got into his carriage, and drove home, repeat¬ 
ing to himself again and again: 

“He said my boy is better, going to live. I’ll 
believe Him. He is a prophet of God. He has 
made people well by laying His hand on them. He 
has made my boy well, without touching or seeing 
him.” 

It was a long journey home, but the nobleman 


08 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 


was quite certain that his boy was well. At last, as 
he was coming near his home, some of his servants 
came to meet him. I expect his wife had sent them 
to tell him the good news. 

“ Thy son liveth,” they said. 

“When did he begin to get better?” he asked; 
“ what time was it ? ” 

“About the middle of the day yesterday—the 
seventh hour,” they said; “ the fever suddenly left 
him, and he is quite himself again.” 

Ah; the father knew then, that at the exact 
moment when Jesus said, “ Go thy way, thy son 
liveth,” his boy began to get better. 

What a delightful return! He had gone away 
wondering if he would ever see his boy alive again. 
He comes back and finds he is no longer ill, but as 
bright, and strong, and happy as he was before his 
illness. No wonder, we are told that the nobleman 
and all his house believed in Jesus! “He must be 
the Christ, the Son of God, to be able to do such 
wonderful things,” they said. 

Jesus found sometimes, that He had too many 
people following Him about to be able to talk to 
them all, and make them hear Him. He had a lot 
He wanted to teach them, and He did not spend 
all His day in working miracles. So one day, very 
early in the morning, He went up to the top of a 
high hill, and called His disciples to come with 
Him. He told them the time had come for Him 
to choose a special number of them to be with Him 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 


69 


always, and help Him in His work, and very soon 
they would be sent by themselves into the villages, to 
heal the sick, and to preach and teach the people 
about God and His love. He chose twelve men, and 
these were their names: Peter, James, John, An¬ 
drew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, 
another James, Simon, Judas Iscariot, and another 
Judas. I expect Jesus prayed with them, and made 
them see what an honor it was for them to be chosen 
messengers of God. 

He was having a quiet time with them; but very 
soon crowds of people were to be seen climbing the 
hill, and Jesus knew that they were coming to look 
for Him. So He went down from the very top of 
the hill, and sat down on a flat part of it where 
there was a lot of grass, and then He began to speak 
to them. His sermon to them has been called the 
“ Sermon on the Mount.” He told them how they 
ought to live if they really wished to be God’s 
children; that it was as bad to be angry and hate 
each other, as it was to kill one another; that they 
must love everyone, even their enemies, and forgive 
them. Then He told them how they must pray, and 
that they must be true, and not do things for the 
sake of being praised, but because it was right. He 
told them they could pray to God about everything, 
and if they asked of Him, they would be answered. 
And that they must not be anxious about what 
clothes they wore, or what food they ate, but that 
they must think about God, and His Kingdom first, 


70 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 


and then they would get all that was good for them 
afterwards. 

The people listened. They had never heard this 
kind of talk before. It was not a dry dull sermon 
with long words in it. Jesus told them stories, and 
talked to them about the flowers on the mountain; 
and some things He said were so strange that it 
made them smile; and others were so solemn, that 
they listened with a hush and silence. I think I 
must tell you one of the little stories He told them 
that day. He was wanting to show them the dif¬ 
ference between a good man and a bad man, be¬ 
tween one who listened to Jesus, and tried to do 
everything He told him to do, and to one who lis¬ 
tened, and determined to be disobedient, and not 
care about anything that was right. 

These two men determined to build houses for 
themselves and their families. 

One of them took great pains in choosing where 
he should place his house. He wanted it to be very 
strong, so that the wind and storms could not blow 
it down. And he knew if he built it deep into a 
rock, nothing could move it, so he found a flat piece 
of ground which was all solid rock underneath, and 
he took his pickaxe, and began to dig down into it. 
It was very hard, slow work, for the rock was hard, 
and had to be split up in little bits one by one, till 
he could get a hole big enough to lay the founda¬ 
tion of his house. 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 


71 


The other man saw what he was doing, and 
laughed at him. 

“ Why, you’ll he all your life building your house! 
I’m going to get about mine very quickly.” 

He did not look about very long; there was a lot 
of sandy earth close by; he began digging in it at 
once. It was easy work to dig in the sand, and he 
soon had his house begun. Every day he built 
faster and faster, and his house was finished long 
before the other man, who was still fastening his 
house into the strong rock. At last both houses 
were finished, and the men took their families to 
live in them. 

One day a terrible storm came on. Rain and 
wind lashed against those houses, the rivers over¬ 
flowed their banks, and came rushing along, carry¬ 
ing everything before them. Both men shut them¬ 
selves inside their houses, and hoped to be sheltered 
from the storm. Night and darkness came on, but 
with the noise of the wind and rain, were screams 
of terror and distress. When the morning dawned, 
and the storm was over, the house on the rock stood* 
as firm and sure as ever, but the house on the sand— 
where was it ? Gone! Swept away by the flood and 
wind. How could it stand against the storm? It 
was only built on sand; and the foolish man and his 
family were all destroyed in it. 

Jesus told this story to show people that the easy 
way to live it not always the right way; and that 
we must do what He tells us, and lean upon Him, 


72 


THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 


and build the house of our Soul upon Him and His 
Words, and then when trouble comes upon us, we 
shall never be upset or overthrown. 

When Jesus had finished His sermon, He came 
down from the mountains, but the people still fol¬ 
lowed Him, and brought Him their sick to heal. 
Every day, and all day long, Jesus was preaching, 
and teaching, and making people well. 

Would you not like to have been near Him, and 
have seen Him do all these wonderful things? 

“ He did kind things so kindly! 

It seemed His Heart’s delight, 

To make poor people happy 
From morning until night. 

He always seemed at leisure 
For everyone who came: 

However tired or busy, 

They found Him just the same.” 


VI 


WONDERFUL MIRACLES 

W HEN we hear sermons, we are gen- 
erally in church. The minister 
stands in the pulpit, and preaches to 
us, but in hot countries, missionaries very often 
preach to people out of doors. Jesus preached very 
often in the open air; but the people crowded and 
pressed so close up to Him, and were so talkative 
and excitable, that He found it very difficult to 
get them all to hear Him. 

One morning He was standing by the Lake of 
Gennesaret. Now this lake was a very big piece 
of water. If you stood by it, you would think it 
was the sea itself. The water was fresh like a 
river, not salt like the sea, but there was a lot of 
fish in it, and people round it used to live by fish¬ 
ing. Two or three of our Lord’s disciples were 
fishermen, as you know, and they had not entirely 
given up their fishing. 

It was a very fine morning. A little breeze made 
a ripple on the water. Two boats were drawn up 
on the shore close to the lake. The men who owned 
them were busy washing their nets. They were 
looking tired and disappointed. Peter was one of 
73 


74 


WONDERFUL MIRACLES 


these men. He brightened np a little, when he saw 
Jesus coming towards him. He always felt happy 
when Jesus was close to him. 

And then our Lord stepped into Peter’s empty 
boat, and beckoned to him. 

“Row me out a little from the land,” He said 
to him. 

Peter jumped into the boat at once, and took 
the oars. He would have loved to row his Master 
across the lake, away from the noisy crowd who 
came after Him, but Jesus only let Himself be 
rowed for a few yards out; then He began to speak 
to the crowds along the water’s edge. They were 
quiet now, and Jesus could speak much better in 
this way, than when they were pushing each other 
to and fro, to see who could get nearest Him. He 
taught them for some time from the boat. It was a 
strange pulpit, was it not ? And then when He had 
finished, He looked into Peter’s tired face and said: 

“ Now you can row me out farther. Launch out 
into the deep, and let down your nets for a 
draught.” 

Peter looked up rather astonished. This was 
not the time of day to catch fish. The sun was 
blazing on the water. He caught fish at night¬ 
time, when it was dark, and the fish could not see 
the nets being drawn through the water. 

“ Master,” he said; “ we have toiled all the night, 
and have taken nothing. Nevertheless at Thy word, 
I will let down the net.” 


WONDERFUL MIRACLES 


75 


He knew that when His Master told him to do 
anything, he must do it, however impossible it 
seemed. He had brought his net into the boat with 
him, and his brother Andrew had just sprung into 
the boat, seeing he was preparing to go out again. 
The brothers dropped the big net over the boat at 
once, and trailed it after them in the water. Al¬ 
most immediately, shoals of fish came into it, and 
the net got so heavy with the weight of them, that 
the net broke. The brothers called to the other 
fishermen, their partners, to come to their help. 
The glittering fish now filled both the boats; such 
thousands of them were drawn in, that the boats 
almost began to sink. Peter was so astonished and 
overcome, that he fell down at Jesus’ feet. He was 
sure that He was God indeed. No man could have 
made these quantities of fish come into their nets, 
in broad daylight. 

“ Depart from me,” he said; “ for I am a sin¬ 
ful man, O Lord.” 

He felt he was not fit to be near the Holy Son 
of God. 

Jesus smiled upon Peter. 

“ Fear not. From henceforth thou shaft catch 
men.” 

He meant that Peter would bring hundreds of 
people into the Kingdom of God, and so Peter did, 
long afterwards. Hundreds of people turned to 
God, after listening to one of his sermons. 

The poor fishermen were rejoiced with their fisE 


76 


WONDERFUL MIRACLES 


They brought their boats to land, and their families 
were able to sell the fish, and take some for food 
for themselves. As for the disciples, they left their 
fish again, and followed Jesus. 

More than ever, they wanted to stay close to His 
side. And they hardly ever left Him now. Peter, 
and James, and John, especially, were always with 
Him. 

Every day seemed to bring some fresh wonder; 
some fresh cure or miracle. But Jesus never did 
these wonderful things to astonish or amuse peo¬ 
ple. It was only to help those who really needed 
help, or to show His power as the Son of God. 

We are going to hear now about some of the 
poor people who were made well. 

One day Jesus was in Capernaum, the little town 
in which He chiefly lived, since His own village 
had driven Him away. It is supposed that Simon 
had a house there, and that Jesus was staying with 
him. The people in the town heard that Jesus had 
come there to stay for a little, and they all crowded 
into the inner court of the house, where Jesus was 
talking to a few people. Everybody from the town 
seemed to be there on this day. Some very im¬ 
portant men, called the Pharisees, who had to do 
with making the laws, and some scribes, men who 
studied the Bible, and wrote out parts to send 
round the country for people to read, came inside 
the house with the rest of the people. These Phari¬ 
sees and scribes were very proud men, and thought 


WONDERFUL MIRACLES 


77 


themselves so good and holy that they despised 
everyone else. They were quite sure that every¬ 
thing they said and did was right, and they did not 
like Jesus, because several times He told them that 
they were wrong in things they did, and were no 
better than some of the common people whom they 
despised. 

Presently four men came along the street, carry¬ 
ing very carefully a sick man on his bed or mat¬ 
tress. Poor man! He had been ill a long time, 
and could not come to Jesus himself, for he had the 
palsy, an illness which took all strength out of his 
legs and arms, and made his body shake all over. 
His eyes and lips could move a little, that was all. 
The rest of his body was quite helpless. He had to 
be lifted up, and carried, and even fed by other 
people. He could not move any part of his body. 
But he had heard of Jesus, and his friends were 
bringing him along, believing that he would be 
cured, if Jesus were to see him and lay His hands 
on him. But when they came to the house, there 
was such a crowd, that they could not pass the peo¬ 
ple. They tried hard, but everyone was so selfish, 
that they would not make room for them. The poor 
sick man looked very disappointed and unhappy; 
but his friends were determined to get to Jesus. 
They looked about them, and then they carried him 
up the stone steps which led to the flat roof of the 
house. When they got on the top, they found a 
place where they could break up some thin board- 


78 


WONDERFUL MIRACLES 


ing, and make a hole through the ceiling of the 
room, in which Jesus was. Then they tied some 
ropes to the four corners of the sick man’s mattress, 
and gently lowered him, down, down, to the very 
spot where Jesus was sitting. I wonder if he was 
frightened of being let down in that way? Jesus 
was pleased at the faith of the sick man and his 
friends. If they had not felt sure that He could 
cure him, they would not have taken such trouble 
to reach Him. Nothing stopped them; no crowd 
could keep them away! 

And then Jesus looked at the sick man. His 
tender loving eyes seemed to look through his poor 
helpless body into his sinful soul. This man, like 
a good many, had not lived a very good life; and 
since he had been ill, he often thought about his 
sins, and wondered if his sickness were sent him as 
a punishment from God. He longed for God to for¬ 
give him. But he could not speak about this to the 
priests; he could not make himself understood. And 
now what were the first words that Jesus spoke? 

He said: “ Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be 
forgiven thee.” 

Such a glad happy light came into the sick man’s 
eyes, when he heard this. 

Were his sins really forgiven? He had heard 
that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. If He 
told him his sins were forgiven, then they really 
were. A great burden seemed taken from his heart. 


WONDERFUL MIRACLES 79 

But the Pharisees and scribes were shocked and 
angry. 

“ Who can forgive sins hut God only ? ” they 
said to each other. “ This man Jesus is speaking 
very wickedly.” 

But they did not speak out loud; only Jesus 
knew exactly what they were thinking and whisper¬ 
ing. 

He turned to them. 

“ Now,” He said; “ which is easier for me to 
say to this poor man—‘ Thy sins be forgiven thee 9 ? 
or to say, ‘Arise and take up thy bed and walk* ? ” 

Both these things could only be said by God. 
Now Jesus went on: “I want to show you that the 
Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins. 
If I can cure this man of his sickness, I can for¬ 
give him his sins. I can make him well both in 
body and soul.” 

Then He turned to the sick man. 

“ I say unto thee arise, and take up thy bed and 
go thy way into thy house.” 

The crowds pressed nearer. They were almost 
breathless with excitement, wondering if this help¬ 
less man could possibly do what he was told. 

Then his head moved; he sat up; he stood up'; 
and stooping to his bed, he seized hold of it, hoisted 
it up to his shoulders, and strode through the crowd, 
as well and strong, as the strongest of them there. 
He was the very happiest man in the city that day. 
He had his sins forgiven, and his body cured. How 


80 


WONDERFUL MiRACLES 


grateful and thankful he must have felt to the Lord 
Jesus, who had done so much for him! The crowd 
of people were so astonished, and delighted, that 
they began to sing thanks to God, for sending such 
a wonderful Christ among them. The scribes and 
Pharisees crept away in silence. What could they 
say now? It had been shown them, that God had 
given Jesus power to forgive sins and to heal sick 
people. 

It was not very long after this, that Jesus healed 
another man who could not walk. 

It was in Jerusalem, and Jesus and His disci¬ 
ples had gone there to attend a feast. Now in 
Jerusalem, there was a great pond built all round 
with stone porches and steps. The water in this 
pond was supposed to be very good for people to 
bathe in, and a lot of sick people went there. They 
got down into the water at a certain time, when the 
water moved about. It is supposed that springs 
broke underneath it, at certain times of the year, 
and made the water bubble up. But there was an 
old story that an angel came down from Heaven, 
and stirred up the water, and directly the water 
was seen moving, the first person who stepped in, 
was made well of whatever illness he had. The peo¬ 
ple believed this, and there was always a crowd 
round the pond. Jesus came down one Sunday 
morning to the pond, and saw one poor man lying 
on his bed close to the steps that led down to the 
water. He had been ill for thirty-eight years. He 


WONDERFUL MIRACLES 


81 


was very feeble, and was a lonely, friendless man. 
No kind relations looked after him. He lived by 
himself, and would drag himself slowly, and with 
great pain, down to this pond every day, and lie 
close beside it all day, hoping that when the water 
moved, he could be the first to get down into it, and 
be healed. Poor man! When the right time came 
he had no one to help him; somebody pushed by 
him, sometimes knocked him down in their haste 
to get into the water first, and he was never in time 
to be healed. Jesus knew all about him, and now 
He stooped down over him, and said very kindly: 

“ Wilt thou be made whole ? ” 

“ Sir,” the man said; “ I have no man when the 
water is troubled, to put me into the pool, but while 
I am coming, another steppeth down before me.” 

Then Jesus said: 

“ Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” 

Like the paralyzed man, this poor sick man did 
what he was told at once. He did not lie there, and 
say he could not. He just tried to get up, and he 
found he could do it. 

He was walking away delightedly, shouldering 
his bed, when some Jews met him. 

“ It is not right for you to be carrying your bed 
on Sunday.” 

The Jews were very particular about keeping 
their Sunday a day of rest. They were never al¬ 
lowed to carry anything in their hands, not even a 
pencil, or a knife, in their pockets. 


82 


WONDERFUL MIRACLES 


“ Oh,” said the man; “ He that made me whole, 
the same said unto me, ‘ Take up thy bed and 
walk.’ ” 

“ Who is that ? ” they asked. 

The poor man did not know who it was; he looked 
about, but Jesus had disappeared. There were such 
crowds of people in Jerusalem that day, that it was 
difficult to find Him. 

But a short time afterwards, this poor man was 
in the Temple, perhaps thanking God for sending 
this wonderful stranger to heal him, when he sud¬ 
denly caught sight of Jesus. He asked people who 
He was; and when he knew, he went and told the 
Jews who had questioned him, that it was Jesus 
who had made him well. 

The Jews, instead of being glad, were very angry 
with Jesus, because He had cured a man on Sun¬ 
day ; and they began to persecute Him, and try to 
kill Him. They hated Him more than ever. 

How sad that the Jews, to whom God had sent 
Jesus, should hate Him, and try to kill Him! 
Some of them believed in Him, but not very many. 

One day, when Jesus was in Capernaum, some of 
the elders of the Jews, who did believe in Him, 
came to Him, and told Him that a Roman officer, 
who had been very good to the Jews, was in great 
trouble. He had a faithful servant of whom he 
was very fond, and his servant was dangerously ill. 
He had been stricken down by the palsy, and fie 
was now dying. The officer sent a message to Jesus 



“'GET up and carry your mat and walk 


y yy 


















































































































































































WONDERFUL MIRACLES 


83 


begging Him to come and heal bim. The Jews 
who brought the message, told Jesus that the offi¬ 
cer was a very good man and loved the Jews, and 
loved their God, and had built them a church at 
his own expense, so that they might worship God in 
it. Jesus went off with them at once. Nobody ever 
sent to Him in vain. As they were going along the 
road to the officer’s house, some people met and 
stopped Him. They were some more friends of 
the officer’s, and they brought another message. 

The officer’s message was this: 

“ Lord, do not trouble to come any farther! I 
am not worthy that thou shouldst enter under my 
roof. Say but the word, and my servant shall be 
healed.” 

The message went on to say that the officer was 
quite accustomed to command, and whatever he said 
was to be done, was done instantly by soldiers un¬ 
der him. If he said “ Go,” they went; “ Come,” 
they came. “ Do this,” and they did it. So Jesus 
had power on earth to command everybody and 
everything. He had only to say the servant was 
to be well, and he would be well. 

This was a wonderful message from a Roman 
heathen. It showed that he had real faith in Jesus, 
as Son of God. 

When Jesus had this message given Him, He 
showed the people that He was astonished. As 
usual, crowds of people followed Him, a great many 


84 WONDERFUL MIRACLES 

out of curiosity, because they liked seeing miracles 
being done. 

A miracle is an impossible thing becoming pos¬ 
sible. 

Jesus did not walk any farther. He turned back, 
but He said to the crowd: “ I have not found so 

great faith—no, not in Israel.” And He told the 
officer’s friends to go back to the officer and say: 
“As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.” 

We are told that when they got there, they found 
the servant quite well, and he had got well just at 
the time when Jesus spoke those last words. 

You "see, this officer believed in Jesus, without 
seeing Him. That is what we do, now that He is 
in Heaven, and we are on earth. And now we are 
going to hear about something more wonderful still, 
that happened the very next day to this. 

Very early the next morning, Jesus told His dis¬ 
ciples that He was going to visit a little village 
called Nam, which was about twenty-five miles 
away. I expect they got into a boat first of all, 
and sailed along the edge of the lake, or Sea of 
Galilee, and then got out and walked. But Jesus 
could never go to any place quietly now; there were 
always crowds of people following Him. And the 
crowds talked of making Him their King. They 
thought He would save them from the Romans, 
who were their enemies, and who ruled over them 
now. Jesus could not make them understand, that 
He had not come to be an earthly King. They fol- 


WONDERFUL MIRACLES 


85 


lowed Him now, some in boats, some on land; and 
by the time Jesus and His disciples had got near the 
gate of the little city, He had a long crowd of peo¬ 
ple behind Him. 

There was another crowd coming out of the gate 
of Nain. 

All the towns then were surrounded by walls, 
and had gates, which were locked at night, to keep 
robbers and enemies out. 

This was a quiet sad crowd. It was a funeral. 
People always had to be buried outside the walls of 
their town, and a young man had died, and his body 
was being carried to the grave. It was specially 
sad, because he was the only son of a widow woman. 
She had lost her husband, but her boy was her com¬ 
fort and joy. She had watched him grow up as 
strong and merry as other boys about him. She 
always looked forward to being helped by him in 
her old age, and then suddenly one day he was taken 
ill. The poor mother was distracted; she had the 
doctor, but he could not make him well, and he had 
got worse and worse, and at last died. Her strong 
merry boy had been taken from her, and she was 
left to follow him to the grave, a lonely, despairing, 
broken-hearted woman. She was sobbing bitterly 
as she followed the coffin now, and other people were 
crying too. They felt for her so much. She could 
not be comforted. She only wished that she had 
died instead of her son. 

When our Lord saw her, He was full of pity and 


86 


WONDERFUL MIRACLES 


love for her. He stepped up very quietly to her, 
and said in His tender voice: “ Weep not! ” 

She started at being spoken to by a stranger, then 
stood still. Who was this telling her not to weep ? 
It must be somebody important, coming into the 
town with a procession of people following Him. 
Was it possibly the wonderful prophet, Jesus of 
Nazareth? She had heard of Him, and how He 
made sick people well. If she had only been able 
to get hold of Him when her dear boy had been 
taken ill, He might have cured him, but there 
seemed no time to send for anyone, and he was dead 
now. It was too late! Too late! 

Was it? Jesus stood still; and now the coffin 
was being carried past Him. He put out His hand 
and touched it. None of the Jews would ever touch 
a coffin, but Jesus had no horror of it. The men 
who carried the coffin stood still. There was no 
lid upon it. The young man lay in it still and life¬ 
less. When the coffin was stopped, all the people 
stood still and held their breath. What was going 
to happen ? Jesus looked down upon the dead body, 
and said very clearly and commandingly: 

“ Young man, I say unto thee, arise.” 

Instantly the dead boy sat up, as if he had just 
waked out of sleep. The color was back in his 
cheeks; his eyes were bright, and he began to talk; 
most likely to call for his mother, or ask why he 
was here? Jesus led him to his mother, who 
clasped him in her arms. Her grief was turned to 


WONDERFUL MIRACLES 


87 


joy. She could hardly believe it was true. The peo¬ 
ple seemed astounded, and a little frightened. Then 
they began to thank God for having sent them such 
a great and wonderful prophet, who with a word 
could raise the dead to life. 

What a happy crowd went hack to Nain now! 
The news spread all over the country. Everyone 
was talking of this fresh wonder, and sign, which 
showed that Jesus was the Son of God. 

“ He gave away no money, 

For He had none to give; 

But He had power of healing 
And made dead people live.” 


VII 


THE LITTLE MAID, AND THE FEAST OF 
FIVE THOUSAND 

O NE afternoon, when it was beginning to 
get dusk, Jesus w 7 as rather tired. He had 
had a busy day. He had been healing 
sick people, and preaching for a long time, so He 
said to His disciples: 

“ Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” 
He hoped to get a little rest and quiet there, for 
He could not get away from the crowds of people. 
One of the scribes heard Him speak, and came up 
to Him, saying he wanted to come with Him, and 
would follow Him wherever He went. Jesus shook 
His head rather sadly: He knew the scribe did not 
mean what he said; he was too fond of his own com¬ 
fort, to live as Jesus did. 

“ The foxes have holes,” Jesus said to him; u and 
the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man 
hath not where to lay His head.” 

And then He stepped quietly into the boat; His 
disciples pushed it into the water, then clambered 
in, and away they went over the grey sea. Some 
of the people tried to follow them in boats, but there 
were signs of a storm coming up, and it was getting 
dark, so they turned back. Jesus Christ was so 
88 


THE MAID AND THE FEAST 


SO 


tired, and worn out, that He just lay down in the 
bottom of the boat, pillowing His Head on a boat- 
cushion, and went fast asleep. His disciples looked 
up into the sky, and saw black clouds flying towards 
them. A sudden violent storm of wind swooped 
down upon them. The boat was tossed to and fro; 
the waves began to lash themselves into a fury and 
dashed themselves against the boat, covering every¬ 
one with their foam and spray. Yet still Jesus 
slept on, and His disciples, knowing how tired He 
was, did not wake Him, but tried their best to row 
their boat through the violent waves. 

The stars soon disappeared behind the clouds; 
it was dark all around them. Bang I A wave came 
right over them, and swamped the boat with water! 
Another and another! Now the boat was full of 
water, and they felt it beginning to sink! Terri¬ 
fied, the disciples cry out, and wake Jesus. 

“ Lord, carest Thou not that we perish ? ” Their 
tone was almost angry and fault-finding. They 
could not understand Him sleeping quietly on. 
Surely He must feel and hear the storm! 

Jesus stood up. He did not seem disturbed at 
seeing the boat full of water, and the waves right 
above them. He looked round on the boiling sea, 
and He said very quietly, but with great firmness: 

“ Peace, be still.” 

Instantly—in a second—the wind stopped blow¬ 
ing, the waves sank out of sight. There was a great 
calm; then He looked at His disciples. 


90 


THE MAID AND THE FEAST 


“ Why are ye so fearful ? How is it that ye hath 
no faith?” 

They might have known that God would not let 
their Master drown, hut they let their fright get 
the better of their sense. Now they were awestruck. 
They knew illness could be cured by Jesus, but they 
did not know that the winds and sea would obey 
Him. 


“ A little ship was on the sea, 

It was a pretty sight, 

It sail’d along so pleasantly. 

And all was calm and bright. 

When, lo! a storm began to rise, 

The wind grew loud and strong; 

It blew the clouds across the skies, 

It blew the waves along. 

And all but One were sore afraid, 

Of sinking in the deep; 

His Head was on a pillow laid, 

And He was fast asleep. 

'Master, we perish! Master, save! * 

They cried; their Master heard, 

He rose, rebuked the wind and wave, 

And still’d them with a word. 

He to the storm says ‘ Peace, be still 
The raging billows cease; 

The mighty winds obey His will, 

And all are hushed to peace-” 

They felt ashamed of their fright, and so glad that 
the storm was over. 

It was very early morning, when they reached the 
shore. But it had been easy sailing there, over the 
calm, peaceful sea. 



THE MAID AND THE FEAST 


91 


Directly they landed, they were met by a poor 
afflicted madman, who had one of those wicked 
spirits inside him. This man was a terror to every¬ 
one. He could not be kept in his house. He tore 
his clothes to pieces, and wandered about in lonely 
places by himself. Everyone was afraid of him. 
They had tried to tie his hands with chains, to pre¬ 
vent him doing harm, but he broke his chains and 
escaped. The people were glad when he ran away, 
and lived among some graves, which were made 
near some rocks. But he was so fierce that no one 
would pass by him, they dare not. Now this fierce 
wild man rushed to the shore to meet Jesus, when 
He got out of the boat. He gave a loud shout, and 
fell down at His feet, calling out: 

“ What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou 
Son of God Most High ? I beseech Thee torment 
me not! ” 

Jesus had told the evil spirit to come out of him. 
Then Jesus asked the man his name. The wicked 
spirit made him say: 

“ Legion, for we are many.” 

He meant that he had more than one wicked 
spirit in him. These spirits knew they would have 
to leave this man, for Jesus told them to come out 
of him, and they asked if they might go and worry 
some pigs that were feeding near. Jesus gave them 
permission, and the pigs were so terrified that they 
rushed down a steep place into the sea, and were 
drowned. The men who were looking after them 2 


92 


THE MAID AND THE FEAST 


were so frightened and angry at the loss of their 
pigs, that they hurried into the town, and told every¬ 
body what had happened. Crowds of people came 
out to see Jesus; and there the}' saw the wild man, 
sitting at Jesus’ feet in his right mind, quite happy 
and calm. Would not you have thought the people 
would have praised God, and begged Jesus to come 
into their city ? 

They did not; they actually begged Him to go 
away. They were frightened at what had hap¬ 
pened. Jesus never stayed where He was not 
wanted, so He told his disciples that they must go 
back in their little ship to the other side again. 
Then the poor man who had been made quite well, 
begged to go too. He loved Jesus for having saved 
him from those dreadful spirits. But Jesus said, 
He would rather that he went home, and told what 
great things God had done for him. The man 
obeyed Jesus. He went through every part of his 
town, telling all the people what had happened to 
him, and who had cured him. We will hope that 
they were sorry now that they had sent J esus away 
from them. They might have had all their sick 
people cured by Him, if He had come into their 
town. When Jesus got over to the other side, he 
found a lot of people waiting for him on the shore. 
There was no rest for Him. Almost as soon as He 
landed, a very rich man, a ruler in the Synagogue 
or Church, came hurrying towards Him. His face 
was troubled and very unhappy. He dropped on 


THE MAID AND THE FEAST 


93 


his knees, when he came to Jesus, and began to 
implore Him to help him. He was generally a very 
proud man, but he did not care for anything now. 
He did not mind his rich clothes getting soiled and 
dusty, as he knelt on the sand before Jesus. 

“ My little daughter lieth at the point of death. 
I pray Thee come and lay Thy hands upon her, 
that she may be healed and she shall live.” 

His darling little girl was only twelve years 
old; she was the delight of her father’s heart. Now 
her merry little voice was hushed, her busy scam¬ 
pering feet already getting cold and still. She had 
been taken suddenly ill, and her poor father rushed 
off at once to find Jesus. He had seen others 
cured. If only Jesus would come in time, He could 
save her. There seemed no hope; everybody said 
that she was dying, but the father would not lose 
hope. Jesus went with him at once; and all the 
people crowded after Him, for they hoped to see 
another wonderful miracle. Now someone else had 
been waiting to see Jesus, and this was a poor sick 
woman. She had been ill for twelve long years, 
and had spent all her money on going to one doctor 
after another, but was no better, only worse. She 
mixed with the crowd, and very quietly began to 
push herself through it, up to Jesus. She said to 
herself: 

“ If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be 
whole.” 

At last she crept up close to Jesus, and trembling, 


94 


THE MAID AND THE FEAST 


took hold of the hem of His long robe. Instantly 
she did it, she felt quite well, and knew she was 
healed. 

But Jesus turned round then. 

“ Who touched my clothes \ ” 

His disciples said that everyone was touching 
Him; the crowd were thronging Him. 

Jesus still looked round. He knew all about the 
woman, hut He wanted to show her that He knew 
she had touched Him, for a purpose. The woman 
was frightened; perhaps she ought not to have 
done it, and yet how could she he sorry ? She fell 
down at His feet and told Him the truth. How 
lovingly Jesus spoke to her! 

“ Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go 
in peace, and he whole of thy plague.” 

Jesus told her it was her faith, not her touch, 
that had made Him heal her. And as the woman 
left Him gladly and thankfully, some other per¬ 
sons pushed themselves through the crowd. They 
spoke to the ruler, for they had just come from his 
house. It was a sad message they gave him. 

“ Thy daughter is dead. Why troublest thou the 
Master any further ? ” 

The ruler was quite overcome; perhaps he 
thought if Jesus had come along quicker, and not 
stopped to speak to the poor woman who was healed, 
that He might have arrived in time. Now it was 
too late. Jesus saw his grief, and He looked at 
him such a comforting, encouraging smile! 


THE MAID AND THE FEAST 


95 


“ Be not afraid, only believe,” He said. 

The poor father did not know what to think, but 
he hurried home the faster, and Jesus followed him. 
When they got near the courtyard of the big house 
where he lived, Jesus turned round to the crowd, 
and sent them all away. He only took three of His 
disciples into the house with Him, and they were 
Peter, James, and John. There was a great noise 
of weeping, and wailing in the house. The hired 
mourners who always went to the house to moan 
when anyone was dead, and play dismal kinds of 
tunes, were already there. Jesus said to them as 
He passed them: 

“ Why make ye this ado, and weep ? The little 
maid is not dead, but sleepeth.” 

They very rudely and scornfully laughed at Him. 

“ What is the good of Him coming now and tell¬ 
ing us that ? ” they said to each other. 

But Jesus very quietly and sternly sent them 
away, and then He told the father and mother of 
the little girl, and His three disciples to come into 
the room with Him, where she was lying dead. He 
bent over the little girl; she lay there cold, and 
still, and lifeless; her eyes were closed. There was 
no breath coming out of her mouth. He took her 
little cold hand in His, and He said very gently: 

“ Damsel, or 1 little maid,’ I say unto thee, 
arise.” 

The little girl opened her eyes; she breathed; 
she lived! The next minute she sprang off the bed. 


.96 THE MAID AND THE FEAST 

She was perfectly well. Jesus turned to her par¬ 
ents, and told them to give her something to eat; 
He knew she wanted it. Her happy, grateful 
parents did not know how to thank Jesus. They 
could hardly believe it was true, and yet when they 
saw their little daughter walking about, they knew 
that she was indeed given back to them from the 
dead. 

Jesus slipped quietly out of the house, and went 
on His way. And as He went along, He made two 
blind men see, and one dumb man speak. No 
wonder the crowds followed Him! Nobody had 
ever done so many miracles as He did. Every day 
He did some fresh marvel in their eyes. 

It was just after this, that our Lord called His 
disciples to Him, and gave them the power to heal 
sick people as well as Himself; and then He sent 
the twelve of them into different villages round to 
preach, saying: 

“ The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” 

He told them they must “ heal the sick, cleanse 
the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils.” 

It was the first bit of real work for God, that 
the disciples had done. I expect they felt rather 
afraid at first, of going off alone without their 
Master, but there was one thing that they found 
quite easy, and that was to tell the people about 
Jesus and what He was like. It is easy to talk 
about anyone you love, and they loved Him very 
much indeed. And then they knew that they could 





HE TOOK THE LITTLE HAND WHICH WAS GROWING COLD 
































































THE MAID AND THE FEAST 


97 


always come back to Jesus, and tell Him if they 
were in difficulty, or were making mistakes. He 
did not send them away from Him altogether; they 
still went about with Him, and were always com¬ 
ing and going. 

One day they gathered themselves together, we 
are told, and came to Jesus, to tell Him what they 
had done and taught. And among other things, 
they brought Him very sad news of His cousin, 
John the Baptist. He was dead. For a long time 
he had been shut up in prison by King Herod. 
Jesus knew about this; for once John had sent 
messengers to Him, asking Him if He was indeed 
the Christ, and Jesus had sent back a message to 
tell him about the miracles God was helping Him 
to do. Perhaps John’s faith was shaken: he could 
not understand why Jesus, if He could do every¬ 
thing, would not break down his prison doors, and 
help him to escape. But it was not God’s will that 
John should leave his prison. He had done his 
work, and now God wanted him in Heaven. A 
very wicked woman, who hated John, persuaded 
King Herod to cut off his head. She got her young 
daughter to dance before the King, and the King 
was so pleased, that he told her he would give her 
anything she asked for. The girl asked her mother 
what she should say, and she told her to ask for 
the head of John the Baptist. What a dreadful 
thing to ask for! The King did not like to break 
his word, and so he sent a man to cut off John’s 


98 


THE MAID AND THE FEAST 


head, and it was brought to the girl. The disciples 
had heard about all this, and they came and told 
Jesus. Herod was hearing now about Jesus and His 
miracles and he was frightened. He had killed one 
of God’s prophets; now here was another. Was it 
possible that it was John risen from the dead? 
He did not know what to think; all this the dis¬ 
ciples told Jesus. 

Jesus was very sad when He thought about John. 
It reminded Him of the day when the wicked peo¬ 
ple would put Him to death. But we will not talk 
about that now. 

“ Come,” said Jesus, “ we will go apart into a 
desert place, and rest for a while.” 

He wanted rest badly; He and His disciples 
had had no time that day to have their meals. They 
were hungry, and tired, and rather sad. So one 
of the disciples brought his little boat out; they 
got into it, and sailed over the sea to a lonely desert 
place, where there were no people or houses. 

The people saw them go; they rushed along the 
edge of the lake, and actually made such haste, that 
when Jesus and His disciples landed, they found 
the people in crowds waiting for them; they hail 
got there first! It was rather disappointing, was it 
not? There was no quiet, no rest for them now. 
When J esus saw the people—women with their little 
children—men and boys—some sick people among 
them, His heart was full of pity and love for them. 
He did not think of Himself; He only thought of 


THE MAID AND THE FEAST 


99 


them, and of how He could best help them. So He 
led them all to a place where there was a lot of 
smooth grass, and here, standing on a little slope, 
He began to speak to them about the Kingdom of 
God. Our Lord spoke in such a simple, interesting 
way, that people were never tired of listening to 
Him. Even the little children loved to gather 
round Him, for He told them many stories, and 
talked about the birds, and flowers, and grapes, and 
corn, and everything that they could see around 
them. He healed some of their sick too, upon this 
afternoon, and instead of resting with His disciples, 
Jesus talked and worked, and talked again, and still 
the crowds of people would not go away. They 
forgot it was tea-time; they forgot they were in a 
lonely desert place; and that there was no shops 
where they might get food. The afternoon passed, 
and evening came on, and then at last when it was 
dusk, the disciples came to Jesus. 

“ Send them away,” they said; “ so that they 
can go into the villages and get food. They have 
nothing to eat.” 

I expect they were a little impatient with these 
crowds. They wanted to have their dear Master 
to themselves. 

Jesus looked round at all the people. He saw 
little children beginning to cry from tiredness and 
hunger. He saw women sitting on the ground, ex¬ 
hausted by the heat of the day, and from being so 
long without food, and then Jesus said: 


100 


THE MAID AND THE FEAST 


“ They need not depart. Give ye them to eat.” 

The disciples looked at Him, astonished. They 
had nothing to give them. Then Andrew said: 

“ There’s a hoy here, who has five loaves and two 
fishes, just enough for ourselves, hut what are these 
among so many ? And how can we go and huy 
meat for these thousands of people ? ” 

Jesus said: 

“ Make them all sit down on the grass, in little 
companies of a hundred, and of fifties.” 

Now there were five thousand people altogether. 
The disciples asked no more questions. They al¬ 
ways did what Jesus told them. They divided up 
the people in rows and circles on the grass, so that 
they could get about among them. I think every¬ 
one must have wondered what was going to happen! 
And then Jesus called the little boy to Him, and 
took the loaves and fishes out of his basket, and 
then He looked up to Heaven and said grace. He 
thanked God for this good food, and then He broke 
the bread into pieces, and gave each of the dis¬ 
ciples a piece of bread, and a piece of fish, and told 
them to hand it round to the crowds. Without a 
word, they all started off, and began going from 
row to row, and giving people the food that was in 
their hands. In the most wonderful way, the bread 
and fish kept coming, and coming round, among 
the people, and still there was more. The little chil¬ 
dren ate till they could eat no more, and the men 
and women ate till they too were satisfied. They 


THE MAID AND THE FEAST 


101 


all felt that they had never had such a good meal 
before. Was not that a wonderful supper which 
the Lord Jesus gave them? He made five tiny 
loaves, and two fish, more than enough for five 
thousand people! And afterwards He told His 
disciples to collect the crumbs, and waste bits on 
the ground, and they filled twelve baskets with 
broken bits of the feast! 

Of course, the people were amazed, and also de¬ 
lighted. Then Jesus, knowing how weary His dis¬ 
ciples were, said to them: 

“ Go back in the ship, and leave Me here; I will 
send the people away.” 

They did not want to leave Him at first, but He 
made them do it. The people were ready, and fit 
for their long walk home now. The children wanted 
to go to bed. It was nearly dark when Jesus told 
them they must go home; they obeyed Him quietly. 

Now at last, at the end of this tiring day, Jesus 
was alone; He could speak to God without fear of 
interruption. He went up to the top of one of the 
high hills near, and there, He knelt down in prayer 
to His Heavenly Father. He could pour out His 
heart, and get comfort and strength to go on living. 
And when night came on, He was still there alone. 

While Jesus was on the top of the mountain, 
His disciples were sailing their boat across the sea. 
Alas! They were soon in great trouble. A mighty 
wind swept down upon them; the waves rose; the 
sea tossed the boat up and down; they got out their 


102 


THE MAID AND THE FEAST 


oars, but they could make no way; they were beaten 
back instantly. 

“ If only our Master were with us! ” they cried; 
“ He could calm this storm, as He did once before, 
when He was with us! ” 

It was very dark; the clouds were so heavy that 
they hid the moon. Suddenly one of them gave a 
frightened cry! 

“ Look! look! is it a ghost, a spirit ? ” 

There was coming towards them on the sea, a 
figure! there was light about it; they could see the 
garments fluttering in the wind. It was too dark 
to see the face, but it looked as if it were a man 
like themselves. It could not be a man, for he was 
not in a boat; he was stepping over the waves as 
if they were the dry ground, and no man could do 
that! He came nearer and nearer; they all 
screamed then, they were so frightened! 

And then across the water, came the voice of 
their Master: 

“ Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid.” 

Oh, how happy they felt when they heard that 
dear voice! And yet some of them seemed still 
frightened. 

“ It may be a wicked spirit pretending to be 
Him,” they said. 

Then Peter sprang to the edge of the boat, and 
called out boldly: 

Xi Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on 
the water.” 


THE MAID AND THE FEAST 


103 


“ Come,” said our Lord, for it was indeed He. 
It was quite easy for Him to walk on the top of 
the sea; would it be easy for Peter? As he put 
one foot out of the boat, I can fancy he felt rather 
frightened. None of the others would have dared 
to do such a thing, but Peter was always venture¬ 
some. Jesus had called him. He would go. Splash 
into the water he went! but he did not sink, and 
his longing to get to his Master took him on over 
the waves quite easily. They bore him up, until a 
fresh blast and gust of wind almost knocked him 
down. He gasped; he looked at the great waves 
rolling in on him, and he forgot His Master’s 
power; he only thought of the power of the storm! 
Sudden fear seized him; his feet slipped down, 
down; he was sinking! 

“ Lord, save me! ” he cried out in terror. 

And then out came a strong tender Hand. He 
was caught, and held by Jesus. 

“ Oh, thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou 
doubt ? ” said His Master. 

Peter was ashamed of himself. He felt safe 
now; he walked with his hand in His Lord’s, back 
to the boat; and directly Jesus stepped into it, the 
wind went away, the sea became calm; all was quiet 
and still. The other disciples fell at His feet. 
They were ashamed, too, of their doubts and fears. 

“Of a truth, Thou art the Son of God,” they said. 

They knew that no mere man could walk over a 
stormy sea, and make one of them do the same. 


VIII 


THE TRANSFIGURATION 


O NE day some men who collected money for 
taxes, came to Peter, and said: 

“ Does not your Master pay the tax 
that He ought, to the Roman King ? ” 

“ Yes, He does/’ said Peter. 

Then he went into the house where Jesus was, 
and told Him that the men wanted money from 
Him. 

Jesus said that if He was a king’s son, He need 
not give money, but He added: 

“ Never mind, go thou to the sea, and cast an 
hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up, 
and when thou has opened his mouth, thou shalt 
find a piece of money. That take, and give unto 
them for Me and thee.” 

Peter went away, and did what he was told. 
He caught a fish, and found some money in its 
mouth, and he gave it to the men. Very often 
Jesus Christ was so poor, that He had no money 
at all. If He could get money out of a fish like 
this, He could have got money from anywhere. 
He could have had a fine house and lots of beauti¬ 
ful things. But Jesus did not wish to be rich; 
104 


THE TRANSFIGUR ATION 


105 


He only had just enough money to get food, and 
clothes, and lodgings. He wanted to show poor 
people that they could he as happy as He was, 
without having much money. 

He often told the people to think about Heaven 
first, and about money last. 

Another day, He took Peter, and James, and 
John, up to the top of a high mountain, away from 
all the crowds of people that followed Him about. 
It was in the evening. Presently Jesus left His 
disciples, and went a little way off from them to 
pray. 

The disciples rested, waiting for Him. They 
knew how much He loved talking to God His 
Father. 

It was very quiet and still where they were, but 
suddenly something happened to Jesus. 

Peter and the others saw a bright light appear; 
it seemed to fall on their Master. His dress 
looked a shining white, and as if it were made of 
sunshine. His face was shining like the sun. 

They were rather frightened; they rubbed their 
eyes, and looked, for at first they thought they 
might have been dreaming. They could not see 
Jesus very plainly, because of the blazing sunshine 
all over Him. Then they saw two figures appear, 
one on each side of Him. One was Moses, and 
one Elias. They were two of God’s holy prophets, 
who had lived many, many years before. 

Moses had died on the top of a high mountain. 


106 


THE TRANSFIGURATION 


He was buried, by God, for be was alone with Him 
when be died. Elias was taken up to Heaven in 
a chariot of fire. Both these men were very faith¬ 
ful servants of God, and God loved and honored 
them above all others, by letting them now come 
to earth, for a few minutes and have a little talk 
with the Lord Jesus Christ. 

As Peter saw them talking, he said in a fright¬ 
ened voice: 

“Lord, it is good for us to be here. If You 
wish, we will make three tents; one for You, one 
for Moses, and one for Elias.” 

Perhaps he thought that Moses and Elias had 
come down to stay; and he wondered if they would 
interfere with our Lord’s teaching. To have two 
famous prophets going about beside his Master, 
might be rather awkward, unless they each had a 
place of their own, and kept to it. 

He really was so frightened, that he hardly knew 
what he was saying. He just spoke out his 
thoughts. And then a very bright cloud came 
down on the top of the mountain, and hid the three 
shining figures. 

Suddenly a great Voice came out of the cloud, 
which said: 

“ This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased. Hear ye Him.” 

Whose Voice was that? 

God’s. 


THE TRANSFIGURATION 


107 


It had been beard once before when Jesus was 
being baptized. 

The disciples knew Who it was who spoke, and 
they immediately fell upon their faces. 

They felt that this was holy ground, and that 
the Holy God was very near them. 

God bad spoken to them; He bad told them that 
they must bear His dear Son, and I expect they 
often remembered these words, when they were 
listening to their Master’s teaching afterwards. 

After the Voice, there was silence. 

And then in a moment or two, they felt some¬ 
one touch them. It was Jesus. 

“ Arise,” He said; “ and be not afraid.” 

They did as they were told, and found that 
Moses and Elias had gone back to Heaven, and 
that Jesus Christ was standing there alone. 

Jesus had wanted them to see Him in His Glory, 
as He would be in God’s Presence; but He told 
them that they must not talk about it. 

“ Hot till after I have risen from the dead.” 

They did not understand what He meant, but 
they were more sure than ever now that Jesus was 
indeed God’s dear Son, for God had told them so 
Himself. But though they believed in Him, and 
all the people who brought Him their sick friends 
and relations to be healed, believed in Him too, 
there were a great many wicked men who did not 
believe in Him, and were always finding fault with 
what He said, and did. 


108 


THE TRANSFIGURATION 


One Sunday morning, Jesus took a walk 
through some corn-fields. The corn was ripe; it 
looked quite golden in the sun, and some of His 
disciples picked some ears of com and rubbed it 
between their hands; then they blew away the 
husks, and put the corn in their mouths. They 
were hungry. People in that country were always 
allowed to gather a little com as they went along, 
even if the corn-field did not belong to them. 

As they were going along the footpath, they met 
some of the proud ill-natured men called Pharisees. 
They were always trying to find out if Jesus did 
wrong, and now when they saw His disciples eat¬ 
ing corn, they stopped our Lord. 

“ Do You know what these men with You are 
doing ? ” they said angrily; “ they have no right 
to pick corn on Sunday; it is against the law. 
They are breaking the law! ” 

Jesus spoke very gently to them. He reminded 
them that long, long ago a servant of God’s, who 
was a King, had taken bread from the Temple 
when he was hungry, and then He said: 

u I made Sunday for men to rest, and I am the 
Master of Sunday; so what I allow to be done on 
that day, is right.” 

They were still more angry with Him then. 
Jesus was on His way to a little church near. 
He went on, and these Pharisees followed Him 
to see what He would do. After the service was 
o^er, a poor man with a bad hand crept up close 


THE TRANSFIGURATION 


109 


to Jesus. He could not stretch out his hand or 
move it. It was like a dead hand; it was of no 
use to him; he could not eat with it, or take hold 
of a stick, or pick a flower. 

The Pharisees knew that this poor man had 
come to church that day, because he had heard that 
Jesus was going to be there, and he was hoping 
that he might be healed. 

So they said in a loud voice: 

“ Is it right to heal people on Sunday ? ” 

Jesus turned to them and answered: 

“ Suppose one of you have a sheep, and it falls 
down into a pit on Sunday, would you not take 
hold of it, and get it out ? Isn’t a man better than 
a sheep ? It is right to do well on Sundays.” 

Then Jesus turned to the poor man. 

“ Stretch forth thine hand.” 

He stretched it out. A few minutes before, it 
hung lifeless by his side; now as he tried to do 
what Jesus told him, he found it was suddenly 
quite well, as strong and whole as his other arm 
and hand. Jesus had healed him by a word. 

The Pharisees went away angrier still, because 
Jesus had made a sick man well on Sunday. And 
they got together and talked of how they could 
kill Jesus. 

But Jesus knew it; and He quietly went away 
to another part of the country. 

A little time after this, He was walking to a 
country village with His disciples, when in the 


110 


THE TRANSFIGURATION 


distance they saw ten men. These men were full 
of sores, for they were lepers, and they cried out: 
“ Unclean, unclean, unclean! ” 

The disciples did not want to pass these poor 
men; nobody liked to go near them, but kept away 
as far from them as they could. The poor lepers 
dare not come near Jesus, but they cried out now as 
loud as they could: 

“ Jesus, Master, have mercy on us! ” 

They were so afraid that He might pass down 
another road before He came to them, and they 
had heard of one leper who had been cured by Him. 

Jesus walked on, till He got close to them and 
then He said very quietly to them: 

“ Go, show yourselves to the priests.” 

I expect they felt very disappointed; they hoped 
that Jesus would put His Hand out, and touch 
them and heal them. They might have said: 

“ It is no good going to the priests as we are. 
They won’t let us come near them. If we were 
well, we would go at once; for then they would 
tell people that we were well and clean.” 

But when Jesus spoke, people always felt they 
must do what He told them. He spoke so lov¬ 
ingly, and yet so commandingly. So these lepers 
turned back, and went along the road that led to 
the village. And as they were walking along, a 
wonderful, happy feeling came over them. They 
looked at each other, and they saw that all their 
painful sores and spots had gone! They were 


THE TRANSFIGURATION ill 

quite, quite well! How glad and joyful they were 
then! They hurried along now; they meant to 
go to the priests, and then to their friends, and tell 
them all that had happened. But one of them 
stopped still in the middle of the road. “ Oh, how 
very good of the Master! ” he said. “ He has 
cured us. It is God who has sent Him to us. I 
must thank Him! ” He came back to Jesus, and 
as he came, he looked up into the sky, and thanked 
God in a loud voice for having healed him. Then 
he fell down on his face at the feet of Jesus and 
gave Him thanks for having made him well. 

Jesus looked round at His disciples, and said: 

“ Were there not ten of these lepers cleansed ? 
But where are the nine? Only this stranger has 
returned to thank God! ” 

Then Jesus said to the grateful man: 

“ Arise, go thy way, thy faith hath made thee 
whole.” 

How ungrateful of the others, was it not, to go 
off and never thank Jesus for having made them 
well! And the only man who was grateful was a 
Samaritan. He did not live in Jerusalem, and was 
a stranger, and had not been taught about God as 
the Jews had. 

Sometimes people were so grateful, and so fond 
of Jesus, that they followed Him everywhere day 
after day, hearing Him speak and seeing Him do 
wonderful miracles. 

One day a man came running after Jesus. 


112 


THE TRANSFIGURATION 


“ Lord,” he said; “ I will follow Thee whither¬ 
soever thou goest.” 

Jesus told him rather sadly, as He had told an¬ 
other man once: 

“ Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have 
nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay 
His Head.” 

He wanted the man to know that he would have 
to suffer if he followed Him. Jesus knew what 
it was to be cold, and hungry, and tired day after 
day. He never knew where He would get a bed 
to lie upon. He moved about from villages to 
towns, and by the sea, and over the sea, going 
wherever He could do most good, and help people 
in trouble. And very often He did not go to bed 
at all, but went up into a mountain by Himself, 
where He could be alone and pray to God. He 
never got any quiet moments in the daytime, and 
could never be alone, for crowds of people were 
always following Him everywhere. 

Sometimes people did not want to follow Him. 

He said to a man once: 

“ Follow Me.” 

And the man, who said he loved Jesus, and 
wanted to be one of His disciples, now hung back, 
and made an excuse: 

“ Let me first go home and bury my father,” he 
said. 

I am afraid he was not speaking the truth. If 


THE TRANSFIGURATION 


113 


his father had been dead, he would not have come 
away from home as he had. 

And another whom Jesus called said: 

“ Lord, I will follow Thee, but let me first go 
home, and say good-bye to everybody.” 

He was not ready, like Peter, and James, and 
John, to follow Jesus gladly and joyfully at once, 
leaving everything behind them. 

And Jesus said rather sadly: 

“ No man who ploughs looks back, and the man 
who looks back when told to follow, is not fit for 
the Kingdom of God.” 

One day when Jesus had been praying in a cer¬ 
tain place, His disciples asked Him to teach them 
how to pray. They knew how their Master spent 
long nights in prayer; and however tired He was 
when He began to pray, when He finished, He al¬ 
ways looked very happy and very rested. They 
began to see that talking to His Father always did 
Him good, but they were not quite sure how they 
ought to speak to God, and what they ought to say 
when they prayed. 

Then Jesus gave them this beautiful prayer. 
We say it in church on Sundays. 

“ Our Father, which art in Heaven, Hallowed 
be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be 
done, in earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this 
day our Daily Bread. And forgive us our tres¬ 
passes, As we forgive them that trespass against 
us. And lead us not into temptation; But deliver 


114 


THE TRANSFIGURATION 


us from evil: For Thine is the Kingdom, The 
Power, and the Glory, For ever and ever. Amen.” 

Jesus now talked to them about praying. He 
said things that made them smile. He said: 

“ If a hungry boy asked his father for some 
bread, would that father pick up a hard stone and 
tell him to eat it ? 

“ If he asked his father for some fish, would he 
give him a horrid writhing serpent to eat ? 

“ If he asked for an egg, would he give him a 
scorpion, which would sting him ? ” 

Of course he would not. “ And if fathers down 
here only give good food to their children,” Jesus 
said, “ do you not think your Heavenly Father will 
give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him ? ” 

Of course He will. And He told His disciples 
to go away into a quiet corner and pray to God in 
secret. Some of the Jews were very fond of pray¬ 
ing out loud in the streets, for people to see how 
good they were. Jesus told a little story about two 
men praying once. He told it because some people 
near Him were boasting how much better they were 
than their neighbors. And so He said: 

u Two men went up to the Temple to pray. One 
was a Pharisee, the other a publican. 

“ The Pharisee stood up proudly, and said: 

“ ‘ God, I thank Thee that I am not as other 
men are, extortioners, unjust, and wicked in every 
way. I thank Thee I am not even like this 
publican. 


THE TRANSFIGURATION 


115 


u c I fast twice in tlie week. I give money to 
the poor, and a tenth part of all I possess! ’ ” 

He was very pleased with himself, was he not? 
The poor wicked publican, standing far off from 
the Pharisee, because he felt not fit to go near him, 
would not even lift up his eyes to Heaven, but 
smote upon his breast, and said: 
u God be merciful to me, a sinner.” 

Then Jesus said that the poor publican made the 
best prayer, and God listened to him and blessed 
him. God does not like conceited, boastful people; 
He likes them to be meek and humble, and think 
little of themselves, not be puffed up with pride as 
that Pharisee was. 

Jesus told His disciples they need not say long 
prayers, but ask God for what they wanted, just 
as you run to your father, and ask him to give you 
anything you want. He told them that God knows 
before we pray, what things we want, but He likes 
us to ask for them, and then if they are good for 
us, He gives them to us. 

One day, Jesus was sitting in one of the outer 
rooms in the Temple in Jerusalem. Crowds of 
people passed through here, because there were big 
money-boxes fastened to the walls, and everyone 
who went into God’s House, was supposed to give 
some gift to God. 

Jesus sat quietly by, noticing the people slipping 
their money into the boxes. Hich people swept by, 
and put in several bits of gold; some put in silver; 


116 


THE TRANSFIGURATION 


and presently there came a poor widow woman. Her 
husband had died, and she was left alone to earn 
what money she could. She was very, very poor, 
and that morning before coming out of her house, 
she had looked to see what she could give to God. 
She had only two tiny hits of money in the world, 
the two together would make a farthing, but she 
felt she loved God, and she must give Him all she 
could. 

So with her precious money in her hand, she 
went up to the box, and with a happy smile slipped 
it in. She never thought that anyone would see, 
or know how much it was. She was ashamed that 
it was so little. 

Jesus looked round at His disciples, who were 
standing near Him. 

“ Do you see the poor widow ? ” He asked 
them; “ she has given to God more than anybody 
else; more than the richest of the people who have 
put in the treasury. For they only gave a little of 
their abundance; and she has put in every bit of 
money that she has.” 

Jesus knew that her little sum of money was 
bigger in God’s sight than all the gold and silver 
of the rich people. 


IX 


STORIES OF THE KINGDOM 


W HEN Jesus preached to the people and 
taught them about God, and God’s 
Kingdom, and how they ought to 
live, they wanted to be in that Kingdom, He told 
them a lot of stories, so as to interest them, and 
make them understand. Little children followed 
Him about as well as men and women, and they 
listened, and loved hearing the stories. 

This is one of the stories that Jesus told when 
He was preaching from a boat close to the sea¬ 
shore. And I think as He sat in the boat, His 
eye must have caught sight of a man walking 
slowly along a field in the distance. He had a 
basket slung over his arm, and as he walked 
along, he kept’ dipping his hand into the basket, 
and scattering seed out of it as he walked. 

So Jesus began: 

“ Behold, a sower went forth to sow.” 

Then Jesus told the people how the seed fell 
into different kinds of places. 

Some of the seed fell on the little footpath across 
the field where everybody walked. Now I expect 
you know what seeds are like. Little brown pods 
117 


118 STORIES OF THE KINGDOM 

which are huried in the earth, and come up in the 
springtime, and turn into flowers, and com, and 
vegetables. But they must he huried in the earth 
if they are to grow. This seed fell on the path; 
and presently some people came along, and trod 
upon the seeds, and crushed them, and then some 
hungry sparrows came along. “ Why, here is a 
dinner for us,” they said; and they gobbled up the 
seeds as fast as they could. So that seed came to 
nothing. 

As the man scattered the seed, some fell 
among stones and rocks. There was just a little 
earth on the top of the stones, and the seeds 
sprang up very quickly here, for the stones were 
nice and warm, and it seemed easy to push their 
little green shoots up through the scanty earth. 
They pushed themselves up in the early morning, 
but by and by, the sun got hotter and hotter. It 
burnt and scorched their little new tender leaves; 
they had no proper roots, so they fell over on their 
sides, withered up, and died. So that seed came 
to nothing. 

Now as the sower passed along, he came to a 
clump of bramble bushes full of nasty thorns. 
Some of the seed he was scattering fell into these 
thorny bushes. They tried to come up, and they 
did come up a little, but the thorns choked them. 
They had no air to breathe; the young brambles 
were coming up, and they took up all the room. 
So this seed came to nothing. 


STORIES OF THE KINGDOM 


119 


But the sower went on sowing his seed, and now 
some fell into nice soft ground, and it took root 
in it first, and then pushed itself steadily out of 
the earth, up into the sweet fresh air and sunshine. 
By and by, the man who sowed, came along, and 
found he had most beautiful crops coming up. 
The seed he had sowed, had made hundreds more 
seeds when they came up. And the sower smiled 
and was well pleased with his seed. 

What a strange little story, is it not ? Why did 
Jesus tell it? When the people were gone away, 
His disciples said they did not understand it, and 
asked Him to explain it to them. And then Jesus 
told them that the earth was peoples’ hearts and 
God’s Word w T as like seed, and dropped into peo¬ 
ples’ hearts, and made those people like fruit 
bushes, and fruit trees, hearing fruit to God. 
Some peoples’ hearts were like the roadway, they 
did not listen properly to God, and so the devil 
Satan, came like the sparrows, and took away the 
seed, before it had time to do the people any good. 
And then other people listened a little, but did not 
bury the seed deep in their hearts; and they began 
very quickly to be good, and then someone laughed 
at them and they gave it up and were naughtier 
than ever. Others hear God’s Word, and try to 
live as they are told to; hut troubles come, or 
pleasure, and like the thorns, they fill up their 
hearts, and choke the good seed. But the seed that 
fell into good ground, is God’s Word falling into 


120 


STORIES OF THE KINGDOM 


peoples’ hearts, and they listen, and try to under¬ 
stand and do what God says. These people hear 
fruit for God. 

Jesus meant that hoys and girls who try to be 
good, and do what they ought, please God as much 
as if they were an apple tree which gives its 
master hundreds of rosy apples every year. Jesus 
told the people also that they must he in earnest 
when they come into God’s Kingdom. 

He said a man one day was going across a field, 
when he saw something shining and bright in the 
corner of it. He stooped down, and made a hole, 
and tried to pull it out. He found that deep in 
the ground of that field, a lot of golden and silver 
things had been buried. He wanted very much to 
dig these up. If he got them, he would be a rich 
man. But how could he dig in another man’s 
field? He must get hold of the field for himself. 
That was the only way. So he went away, smiling 
at the thought of what he had found. And he 
asked if he could buy the field, and how much 
money it would cost; and then he went home, and 
sold all his books and furniture, because he had 
not enough without to buy it. He sold everything 
he had; he was quite determined to have that hid¬ 
den treasure in the field. And then he went joy¬ 
fully and bought that field, and got all those pre¬ 
cious treasures with it. 

Another man was a merchant. He travelled 
about the world looking for pearls. When he 


STORIES OF THE KINGDOM 


121 


found a good one, he would buy it, and then take 
it into the town and sell it at some big shop, or 
sell it to some very rich man. Of course, he would 
get a good deal more money for it, than he gave 
for it. One day he came upon a man who had 
found the most beautiful pearl! He had never 
seen such a lovely one before. The man who 
showed it to him told him he had found it in an 
oyster shell. He went down to the bottom of the 
sea for these oysters; it was his trade, hut he had 
never had such a big beautiful pearl before. 

“ I must have it,” said the merchant. 

The man said he must have a tremendous lot of 
money for it, because it was such a precious 
pearl—a pearl of great price. 

The merchant got out his bags of money and 
began counting his money out. Alas! He had not 
nearly enough! 

“ Keep it for me,” he said; “ while I go home, 
and get some more money.” 

So he went home, and sold all his things, just 
like the other man; and then he took the long jour¬ 
ney again, and brought the big sum of money that 
was required. He did not mind how much money 
he paid for it, and how much trouble he took, as 
long as he got it. Jesus told these stories to show 
that we must take trouble, and give up all we have, 
if necessary, to become the children of God’s 
Kingdom. 

One day a lot of wicked people drew near, and 


122 


STORIES OF THE KINGDOM 


began listening to Jesus. The Pharisees were 
shocked that Jesus had anything to do with such 
people; they found fault with Him for speaking 
to them, and going into their houses, and eating 
food with them. Jesus wanted to show them that 
He had come down from Heaven to make wicked 
people good, and if they had lost their way to God 
and Heaven, He would find them, and put them 
on the right road again. 

So He told them three stories; one about a bit 
of silver, the other about a sheep, the other about 
a bad son, and they were all lost for a time. 

He told them about the sheep first. 

One day, He said, a man who had a hundred 
sheep, lost one of them. When he came to count 
them in the evening, before putting them into his 
fold safe for the night, he found he had only 
ninety-nine sheep. One was missing. He counted 
again to make sure; then he shut up the ninety- 
nine sheep safely, put on his thick coat, and in¬ 
stead of going home to supper, and to bed, he went 
out in the dark and cold, to look for the missing 
one. He told his wife and neighbors about it. 
Some of them said: “ Oh, don’t trouble, if it’s 
lost; it is its own fault. Leave it alone.” 

“ Oh, no,” said the man, “ I want it. It belongs 
to me. I love it. I won’t lose it like this.” 

So off he went, right into the wilderness, where 
the sheep had been feeding in the daytime. He 
went through bushes, scratching his hands and feet 


STORIES OF THE KINGDOM 


123 


with the thorns; he went up and down the hills, 
calling gently all the time; he got very tired and 
cold himself, and was very hungry, but he never 
thought of going home. 

He must find this lost sheep. All night he 
searched, and then towards morning, he suddenly 
found it. Poor, silly, frightened sheep! it may 
have tumbled over the rocks, and hurt its foot; it 
may have been down by the- riverside -caught in 
a bramble hush. Jesus did not say exactly where 
it was, but the good shepherd lifted it carefully up 
in his arms, and carried it along on his ‘shoulders. 
It wasj, so tired and frightened that it could not 
walk; it had run away, till it could run no longer, 
and was nearly dead with cold and tiredness. The 
shepherd went along now, singing as he walked. 
He was so delighted that he had found his sheep 
at last! When he got home that morning, he called 
all his friends: 

“ Come and see my poor lost sheep. It would 
have died if I had not found it. Be glad with 
me. My heart is full of joy! How glad I am 
that I searched till I found it ! 99 

And everyone told him how glad they were, and 
rejoiced with him. For he had found the sheep 
that was lost. Isn’t that a nice little story? 

The next is about a poor woman. Now she had 
ten pieces of silver money made into a necklace, 
and hung round her neck. She was very proud 
and careful of this necklace. .Jbe women in fiho&Q 


STORIES OF THE KINGDOM 


m 

days used to wear what they valued most round 
their necks and arms. It was a safe way to wear 
their money. One day her necklace broke, and 
little pieces of silver money scattered all over the 
place. She picked them up, and put them together 
again, hut she found she had nine pieces instead 
of ten. One piece was lost. Nowhere could it be 
found! She was in tears. She told her friends 
and neighbors that her necklace would never be 
complete without the ten pieces. They helped her 
to look at first, but soon got tired, and left her. 
One advised her to sweep out every corner of her 
house, for it must have rolled away into some dark 
corner. 

So when they had gone, she began to sweep; but 
first, she lighted a candle. Her little house was 
very dark. In her country the sun was so hot, that 
people never made very big windows; they wanted 
their rooms cool and dark, for they lived chiefly 
out of doors, and did their baking, and washing, 
and work, always out of doors. They only went 
inside when the sun was hot, or when they wanted 
to rest. Well—she got her candle, and she set to 
work. She would not have any dinner or tea, she 
let everything go; and she took her broom, and in 
every room and every corner she swept, looking 
for the lost bit of silver. And then at last, with 
a glad cry, she found it in a dark corner of her 
room. She was down on her knees at once. Pick- 


STORIES OF THE KINGDOM 


125 


ing it up, she ran outside the house, and called to 
her friends: 

u It’s found! It’s found! Be glad with me! 
I’ve found the piece of silver that I lost! ” 

And they all clapped their hands with delight. 
They were so glad that she had found it! 

After both these stories Jesus said: 

“ And when poor sinful men and women get lost 
from God, and find themselves; when they come 
back happy with Me into the Kingdom, then there 
is joy in Heaven among the angels there. The 
angels rejoice more over the one lost sheep, and the 
one bit of lost silver, than over those that have 
never been lost at all.” 

And this is the story of the bad son who was lost. 

There was once a very kind, good father. He 
was very rich, and he had a lot of servants, and 
cattle, and money; and his two boys had a very 
happy home. The eldest boy was very quiet and 
steady, and a little bit of a prig. He always did 
the right thing, and said the right thing, and never 
got into trouble; but the youngest was a little 
scamp, always in mischief, always wanting to have 
adventures, and hating to be shut up in the house. 
He was always in trouble over his lessons, and his 
father often used to talk to him and tell him that 
he must steady down. As he grew older, he grew 
wilder; he said the life at home was too quiet for 
him, ho wanted to go away and see the world. He 


126 


STORIES OF THE KINGDOM 


wanted to have plenty of fun and see life. And 
at last one day he came to his father, and said: 

“ Father, give me my money now that belongs 
to m^, and let me go away and see the world. I 
will come back again. I am so tired of this quiet, 
dull place. We see nobody but ourselves. I want 
to have a good time while I am young.” 

Now the father was very fond of his naughty 
boy, and he feared that if he went away from 
home, he would get into had company. And yet 
he felt it was best to let him go. He would not 
force a son of his to live always at home. He 
hoped he would soon tire of travelling about, and 
come home again. So he agreed to give him all 
the money that was his share, and let him have it 
to spend as he liked. 

And a few days afterwards, when he had got 
his money, this wilful boy gathered all his belong¬ 
ings together, and left his home. He went off in 
good spirits; did not mind leaving his father, who 
loved him so, and told his brother, that he pitied 
him being left behind in that dull old hole! Off 
he went, into a country far away, spending his 
money right and left as he went. He at last got 
into a town, and made friends with a wild lot of 
young men. They were only too pleased to make 
him spend his money, and they ate and drank to¬ 
gether, and went to bad places to amuse them¬ 
selves, and had what they called a very jolly time. 
By and by the boy’s money began to come to an 


STORIES OF THE KINGDOM 


127 


end. It could not last forever, and then his 
friends dropped away from him. He was no more 
fun, when he could not spend money on them. 
Everything seemed to go against him now. There 
was a famine in the country in which he was. 
Food was very dear to buy, and he had very little 
money to buy with. He sold his things, and then 
his clothes got shabby, and he could not buy new 
ones. He began to go without his dinner; he got 
pale and thin. What should he do? He would 
starve if he went on like this. His good time was 
over, and he was miserable; without a friend, with¬ 
out a home. 

The time came when his last penny wa9 gone. 
Then he thought he must find work to do, or he 
would die. So one day, he went to a farmer, and 
asked him if he would let him work in his fields 
for him. The farmer looked at the broken-down, 
ragged boy, and then he said: 

“ You aren’t fit to be with my laborers, but I’ll 
send you into my fields to look after my pigs.” 

So he went into the fields, and took care of the 
pigs. He had to feed them; and, do you know, 
he was so hungry that he would like to have eaten 
the husks and acorns that the pigs were eating! 
Hobody took pity on him; nobody asked him into 
their houses to have a nice hot dinner; and every 
day he grew thinner and weaker from want of 
good food. He was too miserable to care what be¬ 
came of him at first, but one day when he was sit- 


m 


STORIES OF THE KINGDOM 


ting down, and watching the pigs feeding greedily, 
he came to his right senses. He remembered that 
far away, he had a good home, and a loving father. 
And he suddenly said to himself: 

“ How foolish I am! My father’s hired serv¬ 
ants have bread enough and to spare, and I, his 
son, am dying of hunger! I will get up and go 
back home to my father! I will say: ‘ Father, I 
have sinned against Heaven and before thee, and 
am not fit to be called your son. Make me one of 
your servants, and let me serve you like a 
servant! ’” 

He got up from the grass, and went to the 
farmer and told him he was going home. He took 
the little money which he had earned with him, 
and he tramped along the roads, and begged his 
way home. It was a long, long way, but every mile 
he trudged brought him nearer. He was very sorry 
for all his wildness and wickedness now; he began 
to remember that he had never written to his 
father. He wondered if he were still alive. How 
he hoped he was! Would he be' very angry with 
him? Would he shut the door in his face? Would 
he be ashamed of him, when he saw him in ragged 
clothes ? 

At last he came in sight of his home. He saw 
the dear old house standing surrounded by its gar¬ 
dens and fields. He saw the cows and sheep in the 
meadows, and his eyes began to fill with tears. 
How could he have run away from such a beautiful 


STORIES OF THE KINGDOM 


129 


home? He felt that if he got back into it again, 
he would never, never want to leave it. 

He was a long way off from the house, when he 
saw a man hastening down the drive, as if he were 
coming to meet him. Could anyone he expecting 
him ? Be waiting for him ? Be glad to see him ? 
It looked—yes, it looked like his father. In an¬ 
other moment he saw it was. Yes, his father, who 
had never left off missing him from the time he 
left home, had seen him in the distance, and' had 
known that this ragged, miserable-looking beggar 
was his son. He had left home a bright, jolly¬ 
looking boy; a boy sure of himself, scornful of his 
home, and longing to get away from it. Now he 
was coming back, a starving, ragged beggar! 

Day after day, the father had hoped for news 
of his boy, but none came. He seemed quite lost 
to him. He missed his laugh and chatter; his 
merry face, and his naughty, tiresome ways. At 
last he began to fear he was dead, and yet every 
day he watched and waited for his return. 

Now he held open his arms, and clasped him 
close, and kissed him. 

“ Father,” sobbed the poor boy; “ I’ve sinned 
against Heaven and in thy sight, and am no more 
worthy to be called thy son.” 

His father kissed him again, and took him back 
into the house. Then he called to his servants. 
His face was shining with joy. 

“ Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him a 


180 


STORIES OF THE KINGDOM 


and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, 
and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it, and let 
us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead, 
and is alive again. He was lost and is found.” 

They did all this. The poor, starving son was 
soon dressed in nice clothes, and seated down at the 
table, which was laden with good food. The serv¬ 
ants began to play music, and dance. They all 
were very happy and merry. 

Now the eldest son had been out in the fields all 
day, and he did not get home till rather late. 
When he came near the house, he could not think 
what had happened. He heard the music and the 
merry voices; what was his father doing ? He had 
left him in the morning an unhappy, quiet old 
man. Was he giving a party? Had any visitors 
arrived? He called a servant to him, and asked 
what was going on, and the servant said: 

“ Thy brother has come home, and thy father 
hath killed the fatted calf because he hath received 
him safe and sound.” 

Was not the eldest son glad to hear this good 
news? No, he was very angry and jealous. He 
wouldn’t go into the room where they were feast¬ 
ing, but he turned away and sulked. Presently his 
father came out, and begged and entreated him to 
Come in and join* them. 

Then he said angrily to his father: 

“ All these many years I have done all you told 
mp ajid served ypu well. I havp never been die- 


STORIES OF THE KINGDOM 


131 


obedient, and yet, though I have been such a good 
son, you have never made a feast like this for me, 
so that I might be merry with my friends. You 
have never even killed a kid for me! But as soon 
as this wretched brother of mine, who has gone 
away and wasted all your money among wicked 
people—as soon as he comes home, you kill one of 
our prize calves—the fatted calf! ” 

The father said very gently: 

“ My son, you are N always with me, and all that 
I have is thine. It is right for us to be merry and 
be glad. For this thy brother was dead and is aliv© 
again, and was lost and is found.” 

I hope that eldest son felt ashamed of himself, 
and went in to welcome his brother home. 

Jesus told this story to show that God loves sin¬ 
ners. Even though men, and women, and children, 
run away from Him, and do what they ought not, 
God still loves them and waits for them to come 
back. And if they get into trouble, and are miser¬ 
able, they must remember that if they go back to 
God, and say they are sorry, He will forgive them, 
and receive them as His long lost children. That 
father was so good and kind, that he forgave his 
boy at once, for he saw he was really sorry for his 
behavior, and he would never act so again. And 
God will do the same with us. 

Is this not a nice story? 


X 

MORE WONDERFUL STORIES 


H ERE are some more stories that Jesus told 
when He was preaching. 

One day there was a good King, whose 
son was going to marry. So the King began to 
make preparations for the wedding. He invited 
a great number of his friends to come to it; and 
then he ordered a most grand feast. His servants 
were getting it ready for days and days. The day 
came at last, but there seemed no sign of his 
friends. No guests arrived at the house. The 
King sent out his servants, to remind them of his 
invitation. He thought they had forgotten it. But 
they told the servants that they did not mean to 
come. The King did not understand this rudeness. 
He sent some other servants to them, and said: 

“ Tell them that I have prepared my dinner, my 
oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are 
ready. Come unto the marriage.” 

But his friends laughed, when the message was 
given to them, and made light of it, and went their 
ways, not taking any notice of the King’s message. 
One went off to his farm, another to his shop; and 
then the others, when the servants said that they 
132 


MORE WONDERFUL STORIES 133 


ought not to treat their King like this, turned upon 
them, and heat them, and actually killed some of 
them. 

Judgment came upon them afterwards; for 
when the King heard of the death of his faithful 
servants, and the cruel way in which they had been 
treated, he sent his soldiers, and destroyed all those 
wicked people, who had insulted him, and killed his 
servants. 

Meanwhile, here was the wedding feast ready, 
and no guests! What could he done ? 

The King called his servants to him again. 

“ The wedding is ready, but they which were 
invited are unworthy. Go out into the streets, and 
into the highroads, and invite anybody you see 
there, to come to my son’s marriage. If they are 
beggars, it does not matter. I will provide every 
guest with a wedding-dress, when they come to the 
house.” 

So the servants went out, and gathered as many 
people as they could find; old men and young, beg¬ 
gars, and tramps, and bad people, as well as good, 
and then they came hack to the palace, bringing 
this crowd of strange guests with them. 

Lots of these people were delighted at their good 
fortune. 

“ How kind of the King! ” they said; and when 
they found that all their rags and shabbiness were 
going to be covered up with most beautiful wedding 
robes, they were still more pleased. 


134 MORE WONDERFUL STORIES 


But there was one man among them, whose 
clothes were not shabby at all, and when he came 
to the doors of the palace, and was given his dress, 
he refused to have it. 

“ No,” he said proudly. “ I am not a ragged 
beggar. I am clean, and tidy, and quite respect¬ 
ably dressed. I don’t want a new dress.” 

The servants tried to persuade him. They told 
him it would be very rude, and would offend the 
King, if he did not take what had been provided 
for him. But he would not listen to them, and 
went on into the house among the others. When 
he was sitting down at the feast, with all the other 
guests, he began to feel uncomfortable. Everyone 
but he, had most beautiful silk and satin robes; the 
grandeur of the palace, and the wedding feast, and 
the decorations, and all the beautiful dresses, made 
him look a perfect disgrace. He was the only 
shabby man there. And presently some doors were 
flung open, and the King himself appeared. He 
had come to welcome his guests. He stood there in 
his royal robes, looking down the long table, and 
noticing each stranger with a kind smile; then sud¬ 
denly his smile disappeared, sternness came into 
his eyes. He had caught sight of the man without 
the wedding garment. There was a hush and 
silence all over the room, when the King spoke to 
him. His voice sounded so terribly stern and cold: 

“Friend, how earnest thou in hither? Not hav¬ 
ing a wedding garment ? ” 


MORE WONDERFUL STORIES 135 


The man was speechless. What could he say? 
He had deeply insulted the King, by refusing his 
gift; he had disgraced his feast, by appearing there 
in his common working clothes. The dust of the 
highroad lay thick upon them, and he had no ex¬ 
cuse to give, for he had been offered royal robes, 
and he had despised, and scorned them. 

Then the King was dreadfully angry. He told 
his servants to take the man outside into the dark¬ 
ness of the night, and leave him there. He should 
not share in all the joys, and delights of the royal 
marriage. 

Now, Jesus told this story for a purpose. He 
did not tell these stories just to amuse the people, 
but to teach them some lesson. God is our King, 
and He has invited us to come to His beautiful 
Home in Heaven, and into His unseen Kingdom 
now. Everything is ready for us, and yet some 
people laugh at good things, and will not listen to 
God’s servants; they think they can do as they like, 
and do not want to go near God. And some think 
they do not want to have their naughty hearts cov¬ 
ered with the white robe of goodness, which Jesus 
died to give us; and so they, think they will creep 
into Heaven, because they are not so bad as some 
people. They will find out their mistake one day, 
as this proud man did. 

The Jews were proud, and would not come into 
God’s Kingdom in God’s way; they thought they 
were good enough to come in their own way. And 


136 MORE WONDERFUL STORIES 


they treated some of God’s servants just as badly 
as this King’s servants. Jesus wanted to warn 
them that God could not be treated so. That the 
day would come, when He must punish them for 
refusing His invitation. 

Soon after this, Jesus began to tell the people, 
that though He would have to go back to Heaven 
soon, one day He would come back again on the 
earth, and make an end of all sin, and unhappi¬ 
ness. And He told them that they must always be 
ready, and watching, and waiting, for His coming 
again. 

One day, He said, there was a wedding going 
on. Ten Virgins—that is young girls—were 
bridesmaids, and they were told that they must be 
dressed, and waiting for the bridegroom, and they 
must have lighted lamps in their hands. It was 
at night-time, and the streets were dark; but when 
the bridegroom came along the streets, they were 
to go out to meet him, and join his procession, and 
go to his house, and to the marriage feast with him. 

Well—they got all ready, and waited and waited. 
The bridegroom did not come. It got later and 
later; and then they began to feel sleepy, and at 
last they lay down, “ just for a moment or two,” 
they said, and went fast asleep. 

Now, five of these girls had got their lamps filled 
with oil ready for lighting. They lighted them, 
turned down the wicks, and put them down by their 
sides when they went to sleep. It was wise of 


MORE WONDERFUL STORIES 137 


them to do this, for they knew they must not keep 
the bridegroom waiting. The other five were care¬ 
less and foolish. They actually had hardly any 
oil in their lamps! They were too lazy to fill 
them; they said they would do it by and by, but 
that they thought the oil would last out. And then 
in the middle of the night, the cry came outside in 
the street: 

“ Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to 
meet him.” 

The cry woke them up. 

Immediately they all turned to their lamps. 
Five of them commenced to trim them. They 
began to burn brightly. But the others came 
running to them: 

“ Oh, look here! Our lamps have gone out; 
what shall we do? Give us some of your oil! 
Quick! Quick! or we shall be late! ” 

“But we can’t do that,” the other girls said. 
“ There isn’t enough oil for both us and you. Go 
and buy some at once, for yourselves.” 

They rushed out to the shops, but while they 
were gone, the bridegroom came. The five wise 
girls went outside to meet him. Their lamps were 
burning brightly. They were ready and went into 
the bridegroom’s house, and the door was shut. 

After some time, the other foolish girls came 
knocking at the door. 

“ Lord, Lord, open to us! ” 

It was too late. They had not met the bride- 


138 MOKE WONDERFUL STORIES 


groom; they were not ready for him when he 
came; and so he would not let them come in now. 
He told them he did not know them. All his 
friends had met him, and were inside the house 
with him. How sorry and ashamed those girls 
were as they crept home! They missed all the en¬ 
joyment of the Feast, because they were not ready. 

“ Now,” Jesus said to the people, “ watch there¬ 
fore, for ye know neither the day, nor the hour, 
wherein the Son of Man cometh.” 

Then He told them this story: 

There was once a man who was leaving home. 
He was going into a far country, and he was going 
to be away a long time. He had a lot of servants, 
and he did not want them to be idle while he was 
away. So he called three of his head servants to 
him, and gave each of them some money of his, to 
take care of, and to use wisely for him. He gave 
to one five talents. One talent was as much as a 
great many pounds of our money, so he gave this 
servant a very big sum of money. He gave two 
talents to the next servant, and the third one only 
had one talent given to him. The master of these 
servants knew them very well; and he gave as much 
money to them, as he knew they were fit to use 
for him. Then he went away, and told them it 
would be a long time before he would come back. 

The first servant set to work at once. He used 
his lord’s money so wisely, and well, by buying 
things, and selling them again, like a shopkeeper 



“he HEARD THAT JESUS TIIE NAZAREXE WAS COMING ALONG *’ 




























. 
















































































































MORE WONDERFUL STORIES 


1SS 


or merchant, that he doubled his money very soon. 
Instead of five talents, he now had ten. 

The second servant did just the same. He had 
not so much money to spend, so he did not gain so 
much; but he doubled his lord’s money too, and 
instead of two talents, he had four. 

The third servant was lazy. Perhaps he was 
rather discontented because his master had only 
given him one talent. 

“ It is not worth while troubling over such a 
little money. I shall keep it for my master safe 
enough; but I am not going to trade with it, and 
make more out of it.” 

And then he wondered where he would keep it. 
And he thought he would hide it in the garden. 
So he went out, and dug a deep hole, and buried 
the talent. And then he forgot all about it, and 
did not work like the other servants did, but just 
enjoyed himself. 

After a long time, the master of these servants 
came home. And then one morning, he told them 
to come to him, and give him an account of how 
they had spent his money. 

He that had received the five talents came up, 
and said: 

“ Lord, thou gavest me five talents. Behold, I 
have gained beside them five talents more.” 

His Lord said to him: 

“Well done, thou good and faithful servant; 
thpu hast been faithful over a few things. I will 


140 


MORE WONDERFUL STORIES 


make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou 
into the joy of thy Lord.” 

Then the next servant came up. 

“ Lord, thou gavest me two talents. Behold, I 
have gained two other talents, besides them.” 

His Lord said to him: 

“ Well done, good and faithful servant. Thou 
hast been faithful over a few things. I will make 
three ruler over many things. Enter thou into the 
joy of thy Lord.” 

And then the third servant came up. I think he 
was feeling a little bit ashamed of himself; he 
wished he had other talents to show for the one 
talent given him, and he wondered if he would be 
praised as the others were. He began to make ex¬ 
cuses for himself. 

“ Lord, I know you are very careful, and hard, 
over your money; and you like to reap, where you 
have not sown, and gather where you have not 
strawed. So I was afraid. I did not want to lose 
or waste your money, and I went and hid it in the 
earth. Here it is, just as you gave it to me.” 

Then his lord was very angry with him. 

“ Thou wicked and lazy servant! Because thou 
knowest that I like my money to be used well, so 
as to be increased, thou oughtest to have put my 
money somewhere, so that I should have got more 
now from it.” 

And then he turned to one of his servants, and 
said: 


MORE WONDERFUL STORIES 141 


“ Take away his one talent from him, and give 
it to my servant who has the ten talents; and then 
cast him out of my service.” 

Why did Jesus tell this little story? To tell 
us that we must all use what God gives us for Him. 
Our health, our money, our cleverness, must all 
be used for God, and if we love Him, we shall 
gladly work for Him. 

One day Peter came up to his Master and said: 

“ Lord, how often shall my brother sin against 
me, and I forgive him ? Must I forgive him seven 
times ? ” 

Jesus said: 

“ I say not unto thee, until seven times, but until 
seventy times seven.” 

And then our Lord told Peter this little story: 

There was a King once, who was calling to ac¬ 
count his servants. And one was brought to him, 
that owed him a lot of money; as much as ten 
thousand talents, which was thousands of pounds. 
This servant was not able to pay a penny of this 
big debt. He had spent all this money which be¬ 
longed to the King, and he could not pay it back. 
What was to be done ? 

In those days people used to sell themselves to 
others as slaves. They used to say: “ If you give 
me so many pounds, I will come, and be your 
servant for always.” So the King said: 

“ If this man can’t pay me what he owes me, he, 


142 MORE WONDERFUL STORIES 


and his wife, and children, must be sold as slaves, 
and then I will get my money.” 

The servant fell down at his feet, and besought 
him: 

“ Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay 
thee all.” 

He was in such grief, that the King was sorry 
for him. He knew what a terrible thing it would 
be for him to he sold as a slave, and so he deter¬ 
mined he would forgive him, and let him go free. 
He knew he would never he able to pay him back, 
so he forgave him it all. 

How happy and grateful that man must have 
felt! He had gone in to the King’s presence, fear¬ 
ing he was going to be punished for not paying hia 
debt, perhaps cast into prison, or sold as a slave. 
He came out as a free man—pardoned, as if he 
did not owe a penny in the world. And as he came 
out with a happy smiling face, he suddenly met a 
fellow servant who owed him a little money. In¬ 
stantly his face changed. He looked furiously 
angry. He rushed at this man and took him by the 
throat, and said: 

“ Pay me what thou owest.” 

This poor servant fell down at his feet, and said: 

u Have patience with me, and I will pay thee 
all.” 

That was just what he did, and said himself, 
when he was before the King. 

Now, do not you think he ought to have for- 


MORE WONDERFUL STORIES 143 


given this man, because he had been forgiven him¬ 
self ? And he had owed a great deal more money 
than this poor man had. Well, he did not forgive 
him. He took hold of him and dragged him of? 
to prison, and he had him put inside, till he could 
pay his debts. 

Now, the other servants of the King had seen 
all this, and they felt very sorry for the poor man 
in prison; and they went straight to the King, and 
told him about it. 

The King was very angry. He called back the 
servant whom he had forgiven, and said to him: 

“ Oh, thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all 
that debt, because thou desirest it. Shouldst not 
thou also have had compassion on thy fellow serv¬ 
ant, even as I had pity on thee ? ” 

And then the King took back his forgiveness, 
and he delivered this cruel man over to the police 
of those days, and said that they were to punish 
him as they thought he deserved, till he could pay 
all that he owed. 

It served him right, did it not ? 

Then Jesus said to Peter, and to those who had 
been listening with him to this story: 

“ So shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you, 
if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his 
brother their trespasses.” 


XI 


THE GOOD SAMARITAN AND THE 
TWO RICH MEN 


S OMETIMES when Jesus spoke to the people, 
He talked of the time that was coming 
one day, when they would see Him as their 
real King. He told them He was not always going 
to stay down on earth. He was going back to 
Heaven, but one day He would come down again, 
and be a Judge and a King. 

He said: 

“ When the Son of Man will come in His Glory, 
and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit 
upon the throne of His Glory.” 

And then He said that all the people in the 
world would come round Him then, and He would 
divide them all into two lots; just like a shepherd 
who has a lot of goats and sheep feeding in the 
field together all day, divides them at night, and 
puts the sheep in one fold, and the goats in another. 

Jesus said that the good people who loved Him, 
and had tried to please Him, and follow Him, 
would he on His right Hand; and the other people 
who had only lived to please themselves, and had 
never tried to love Him, or follow Him, would he 
on His left Hand. 


144 


THE GOOD SAMARITAN 


145 


Then He would say to the people on His right 
Hand: 

“ Come, ye blessed of My Father, into the King¬ 
dom which is ready for you. For I was hungry, 
and you gave Me meat. I was thirsty, and you 
gave Me drink. I was a stranger, and ye took Me 
in. I was naked, and you clothed Me. I was sick, 
and ye visited Me. I was in prison, and ye came 
unto Me.” 

Then the good people will say: 

“ Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, and feed 
Thee, and thirsty, and gave Thee drink? When 
did we see Thee as a stranger, and took Thee in? 
Or naked, and clothed Thee? Or when saw we 
Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee ? ” 

They could not remember doing all these things 
to our Lord. 

And Jesus, the King, will say: 

“ If you have done these things to any of My 
poor, and sick people in the world, you have done 
them unto Me.” 

And then He will turn with a stern face, to the 
people on His left side: 

“ Depart from Me. Go to the place where those 
people are, who love Me not: where Satan and his 
wicked spirits are. For I was hungry, and you 
gave Me no meat. I was thirsty, and you gave Me 
no drink. I was a stranger, and ye took Me not 
in. Naked, and you clothed Me not; sick and in- 
prison, and ye visited Me not.” 


146 


THE GOOD SAMARITAN 


Then these people will be astonished. They 
could never remember being so unkind to Jesus. 
They will say: 

“ When did we not feed Thee, Lord, and clothe 
Thee, and take Thee in as a stranger, and visit 
Thee when sick and in prison ? ” 

Then Jesus will say: 

“ Truly I say unto you, that because you never 
fed the poor hungry and thirsty people on earth; 
because you never took them in, when they had no 
home, or visited them when sick and in prison; 
because you have never done any of these things, 
you have never done them for Me.” 

And so at the last day, when Jesus comes again, 
He will take the people who have lived for Him, 
and for others, on earth, into His most beautiful 
Home in Heaven; and the people who have only 
lived to please themselves, will have to be shut out¬ 
side, with all those who do not love God. 

Jesus wanted to show us that we must be kind, 
and help others who are poorer than ourselves, if 
we want to please Him. And He will consider 
that we are helping Him, when we are helping 
them. Is not this a nice thought? 

Jesus always helped the sick and the poor Him¬ 
self. He never sent anyone away; and that was 
what made everyone love Him so. 

Children liked to listen to these stories as well 
as grown-up people. 


THE GOOD SAMARITAN 


147 


“ Stories Jesus used to tell, 

And all the children near. 

Listened and remembered well, 

The tales they came to hear.” 

One day a lawyer came to Jesus. He asked 
Him a question, but be did not really want to 
know the answer. He only wanted to see if Jesus 
would say anything, that he could make out was 
wrong, and tell the elders of the Jews about Him. 

He said: 

“ Master, what shall I do to get eternal life ?” 

Jesus asked him what the Jewish law said 
about it. 

The lawyer said, that the law said, we must love 
God with all our hearts and souls, and love our 
neighbor as we love ourselves. 

Jesus said: 

“ You have answered right. This do and thou 
shalt live, for ever.” 

“ Who is my neighbor ? ” he asked. 

And then Jesus told this little story to show him 
that anyone who needed our help, is our neighbor. 
He said: 

One day, a certain man took a journey from 
Jerusalem to Jericho. He had money with him, 
and as he went along a very lonely road, he began 
to wish he had some friend with him. He had 
heard that there were a good many robbers hiding 
among the high rocky hills on either side of the 
road, and he looked about him anxiously as he 
walked along. 


148 


THE GOOD SAMARITAN 


■Suddenly, before be bad time to defend bimself, 
tbe robbers rusbed down upon bim. He cried for 
mercy, but it was of no use. They beat bim down 
to tbe ground, with great sticks, then emptied bis 
pockets, and took away bis money from bim and 
even stripped bim of bis good clothes; then they 
left bim lying on tbe road, bleeding, and balf dead. 
They got back to tbeir biding-places in safety, and 
tbe poor man lay there groaning, in great pain. 
He did not know where be was, or what bad hap¬ 
pened to bim. Can you fancy you see bim lying 
there ? Will no one come to his help ? There 
seems nobody in sight. Listen! There are foot¬ 
steps. Here is someone coming along in the dis 
tance! Now be will be helped. Yes—the man 
who is coming along is a priest. He teaches, and 
takes tbe services in God’s Beautiful House, tbe 
Temple, in Jerusalem. He is a good man; be will 
be sure to help bim. Tbe priest comes up. He 
glances at tbe poor man lying on the ground, and 
hastily crosses the road away from bim. “ An¬ 
other of these travellers been murdered by these 
robbers,” be murmurs to bimself; “ I won’t go near 
bim. If be is dead, I shall make myself unclean. 
We priests must keep ourselves clean and holy.” 

He is a selfish and cruel man. He only thinks 
of himself; not of tbe poor traveller dying there. 
He goes on bis way. Will no one take pity on this 
poor man? 

Now here is somebody else! He also belongs 


THE GOOD SAMARITAN 349 

to the Temple, and takes part in the services there. 
He is a Levite. He comes up close to the man, 
and stands looking at him. 

“ I can do nothing,” he says to himself. “ He 
is dead, or very nearly dead. I can’t stop. The 
robbers may come, and attack me if I am out 
late.” 

And he also goes to the other side of the road, 
and passes on. 

What unkind men! They are not loving their 
neighbor, as themselves. If they had been lying 
there hurt, and nearly killed, would they like others 
to pass by and not help them ? And yet both these 
men knew, and heard often in church, that if they 
loved God, they must love their neighbor also. 

Now at last comes a Samaritan riding on a 
donkey. He stops as the other men did; but his 
eyes fill with tears, and great pity, and love fills 
his heart. He gets off his donkey, and lifts the 
poor traveller tenderly in his arms; then he gets 
his little flask of oil, and another flask of wine, 
and he cleans and soothes the nasty cuts about his 
head, and body, binding them up with strips of his 
own linen robe. And when the poor man’s wounds 
have stopped bleeding, he lifts him tenderly upon 
his donkey, and putting his arm round him, sup¬ 
ports him there, and leads the donkey gently along, 
till he gets to the first inn on the road. Then he 
takes him inside, puts him to bed, and gives him 
food, and nurses him, and stays with him all night. 


ffHE GOOD SAMARITAN 


150 

The next morning, the poor traveller is much bet¬ 
ter; but he is not able to get up and go home, and 
this good Samaritan must go on his way. So he 
goes to the man of the house, the inn-keeper, and 
gives him some money. 

“Take care of this poor, sick, wounded man,” 
he says to him. “ Nurse him, and feed him, and 
look after him, till he gets well enough to go to 
his own home; and whatever you spend more, I 
will repay to you, when I come this way again.” 

Then Jesus said to the lawyer: “ Who was the 
real neighbor of those three men?” 

The lawyer said, “ The one that showed mercy.” 

Then Jesus said unto him: 

“ Go and do thou likewise.” 

Here is another little story: 

There was once a man who had a fig tree planted 
in his vineyard. Now the vineyard was where 
grapes grew, but the ground was so good for fruit 
trees, that this man expected that the new little fig 
tree would have a lot of figs upon it. His gardener 
planted it for him, and took care of it, and at the 
end of a year, when it was time for figs, the man 
went to gather them. There was not a single fig 
upon it! 

“ It is too soon. It has only been planted a 
year,” said the gardener; “ next year, we shall 
have some figs.” 

So the man went away, and waited for a whole 
year. Then he came to his fig tree again. There 


THE GOOD SAMARITAN 


151 


were no figs on it. The man was very disap¬ 
pointed, and so was the gardener. They could not 
make it out. Other trees had figs; this one had 
none. So they waited one more year. When the 
master came round the third year, and found no 
figs again, he grew angry. 

“ Behold,” he said to the gardener; “ these three 
years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find 
none! Cut. it down! Why cumbereth it the 
ground % 99 

The gardener looked sad, and shook his head. 

“ Lord,” he said, “ let it alone one more year. 
I will dig about it and dung it. And if it bear 
fruit, well! And if not, then after that, thou 
shalt cut it down.” 

So the tree was left; but Jesus did not say 
whether it bore figs the next year. It was given 
a last chance to do it. 

Jesus wanted to show the people that God had 
planted them down here in the world, to grow fruit 
for Him, and if they were not doing it, they were 
no good at all. 

God comes to see if His children are bearing 
fruit for Him; and if they do not, He waits very 
patiently, and gives them another chance. But one 
day He will see that they are only taking up the 
ground, and doing nothing; and then He will give 
them their last chance, and after that He will move 
them away. They will no longer be in His vine¬ 
yard. 


152 


THE GOOD SAMARITAN 


Jesus told another story something like this, to 
show us that we must not be selfish, and live to 
ourselves; and if we have a lot of money, we must 
spend some of it for God, and not keep it all to 
ourselves. 

He said: 

There was a rich man who had very big gardens, 
and a lot of corn-fields; and one year he got so 
much fruit, and so much corn, that he did not know 
what to do with it. It never struck him to give 
some of it away. No, he thought he would enjoy 
it all himself. What a greedy man! 

He said to himself: 

“ What shall I do ? I have no room to pack 
away all my apples, and pears, and pomegranates, 
and bananas, and oranges. My rooms are all full 
already with some of the fruit I had last year. I 
know what I will do! I will pull down my barns, 
and build greater; and in these big new bams, I 
will pack all my fruit, and all my corn, and every¬ 
thing I have. And I will then say to myself, and 
to my soul: ‘ Soul, thou hast many good things 
laid up for years. Now take thine ease. Eat, 
drink, and be merry! ’ 99 

This rich man thought that this was all his life 
was given to him for—to eat, drink, and enjoy 
himself. And when he had said this, God suddenly 
spoke to him: 

“ Thou, fool, this night thy soul shall be re- 


THE GOOD SAMARITAN 


153 


quired of thee. Then whose shall those things be, 
which thou has provided ? ” 

God meant to say that this very night he was 
going to die; he had built his barns, and stored up 
his fruit for nothing; for he would not live to enjoy 
them. Somebody else would have them, after he 
was dead. 

And Jesus said after He had finished the story: 

“ This is what will happen to the man who lays 
up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward 
God” 


“W# lo»e what on ourselves we spend. 

We have as treasure without end. 

Whatever Lord to Thee we lend. 

Who givest all.” 

This is another story about a rich man that 
Jesus told the people when He was talking to them. 

There was once a very rich man. He had a lot 
of money and he spent it all on himself. He was 
a selfish, greedy man. He did not love God, and 
he did not love his neighbors. He never helped the 
poor. He dressed in clothes that kings might wear, 
in purple and fine linen; he had great feasts of 
food every day; and had the most costly things on 
his table. 

When God gives money to people, and makes 
them rich, He expects them to use some of it in 
doing good. This rich man thought of nobody hut 
himself. He lived in the most beautiful house, 


154 


THE GOOD SAMARITAN 


had a lot of servants who waited upon him, and 
he had everything that money could buy. Now 
outside the gates of his house, was a poor sick 
beggar. He was too ill to work, and his relations 
used to carry him to the gates every day, and put 
him down on the ground, and leave him there. 
They told him he must beg for his food. I am 
afraid they were not very kind to him. He seemed 
as if he had not a friend in the world. And yet 
this beggar man loved God, and prayed to Him, 
so he had a Friend in Heaven. Perhaps you won¬ 
der why he sat at this rich man’s gate, but beggars 
often did that in the Jews’ country. The servants 
would take them waste bits of food. This poor 
man was thankful to get any broken bits of meat, 
and crusts, from the rich man’s table. 

He lay there, clothed in rags, and his body full 
of sores. Sometimes the rich man saw him, as he 
drove out in his carriage, but it never entered his 
head to help him. He might have sent him to a 
hospital, where the doctors would have cured him. 
He might have sent him some of his old clothes. But 
he did nothing for him. It was only his servants, 
who fed him with bits that they might have thrown 
to the dogs. 

There were always dogs prowling about the 
streets, picking up what food they could get; and 
the beggar man, whose name was Lazarus, made 
friends with some of these dogs. Perhaps he 
shared his crusts with them. Anyhow, they used 


THE GOOD SAMARITAN 


155 


to come up, and lick his sores, as if they were fond 
of him and sorry for him. 

It was very cold in the winter lying there, and 
the day came at last when there was no beggar at 
the gate. Lazarus was dying now. He was too 
ill to be carried there; and then one day he closed 
his eyes, and the angels flew down from Heaven, to 
bring his soul to God. What a happy time the beg¬ 
gar was going to have now! He would never be 
cold or hungry any more, and never he in pain 
again. We are told that Abraham, a very old and 
faithful servant of God’s, who had died many hun¬ 
dreds of years before, welcomed him above, and 
put his arms round him, and comforted him. 

I daresay the rich man was glad when he heard 
that the beggar was dead. He did not like to see 
him outside his gate, when he drove in and out. 

But the story says very soon afterwards the rich 
man was taken ill, and told by his doctor that he 
must die. What good did his fine clothes do him 
then ? What good did his big dinners, and all his 
pleasures do for him? 

They were no good at all. All the money in the 
world cannot keep people from dying, when God 
sends for them; and this rich man had never loved 
God, and had no wish to go to Heaven. 

So when he opened his eyes in the other world, 
he was not among God’s people at all; he was not 
near God. He was far away with other people like 
himself; selfish wicked people, who only lived on 


156 


THE GOOD SAMARITAN 


earth to please themselves. Ho was not happy like 
the beggar now; he was in a place of torment, and 
he was miserable. God let him have a sight of 
the happy place where Lazarus was, hut there 
seemed as if there was a great deep hole, gr gulf 
between them. The rich man saw Abraham, and 
he recognized the beggar. Then he cried with a 
loud voice: 

“ Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send 
Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in 
water and cool my tongue.” i 

Even now he was selfish towards Lazarus; he* 
expected him to leave his happiness, and come over 
to him, and try to make him more comfortable. 

And then Abraham spoke to him: 

“Son, remember thou in thy lifetime receivedst 
good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. 
Now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 
Besides, there is a great gulf fixed between us. 
We cannot come to you. And you cannot come 
to us.” 

Now here, is the only nice thing we hear about 
this rich man. He had five brothers all alive on 
earth; they were just as careless and wicked as he 
had been, and he thinks of them now. He asks 
Abraham to send someone to tell them, what an 
awful place they would come to, unless they altered 
their ways, and turned to God. But Abraham 
said: 

^ “ They have the Bible to tell them about God, 


THE GOOD SAMARITAN 


157 


and God’s prophets warn them of what will hap¬ 
pen, if they will not serve God.” 

“ But,” said the rich man; “ if one went to them 
from the dead, they would repent.” 

Abraham said: 

“ If they won’t hear God’s servants who preach 
to them, they won’t he persuaded to be good, though 
one rose from the dead, and spoke to them! ” 

Here the story ends. It is a happy one and a 
sad one. It has a happy end for Lazarus the 
beggar, because he loved God. It has a sad end 
for the rich man, because he only loved himself, 
and his money. 


XXII 


LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD 

W E are now going to hear about a few 
more people who were healed. One 
day, Jesus went some distance off to 
some towns, that lay on the edge of the great ocean. 
The people here were not Jews, but heathens, and 
He wanted to show them, that He was their 
Saviour, as well as of the Jews. 

As He went along, a woman met Him. She 
was in trouble, and cried out: 

“ Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of 
David. My daughter is grievously vexed with a 
devil.” 

The poor woman’s daughter was suffering from 
having a wicked spirit inside her; no one could 
quiet her, and her mother had heard of the won¬ 
ders Jesus did, and came with haste to meet Him. 

It was very strange, but Jesus walked on, and 
answered her not a word; He took no notice of her. 

The woman cried out louder still: “ Have mercy 
on me! Hear me! ” 

She followed Jesus up the road, making a great 
noise. She was in dead earnest, and she meant to 
168 


LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD 150 


go on calling out, till she was heard. The disciples 
tried to stop her, and push her away. She would 
not ‘move. Then they said to Jesus: 

“Send her away; she crieth after us.” 

Then Jesus spoke, and said that He was sent to 
help the Jews, God’s own people. This woman 
was a heathen. 

Of course, He was trying her faith. He wanted 
to see if she was really in earnest, and really be¬ 
lieved in Him. 

She came up close to Him now, and fell down 
at His feet, and worshipped Him. 

“ Lord, help me,” she prayed. 

Jesus answered her still coldly: 

“ It is not meet to take the children’s bread and 
to cast it to the dogs.” 

“ Truth, Lord,” she said. 

She knew the Jews would call her a Gentile dog; 
they would not help her or have anything to do 
with her; but she still expected Jesus to help her. 

“ Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from 
their master’s table,” she said. 

She meant that she would be satisfied, if Jesus 
gave her crumbs. Ah! He meant to do more than 
that! 

How He turned to her, with His beautiful happy 
smile. 

“ O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee 
as thou wilt.” 

That was quite enough for the woman; Jesus 


160 LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD 


had told her that her wish about her daughter was 
given to her. 

He added: 

“ The devil is gone out of thy daughter.” 

She hurried home with a thankful, happy heart. 
Her daughter had been too ill to bring to Jesus. 
She was rushing wildly about and hurting herself, 
and everyone who came near her. How when her 
mother returned home, she found her lying quietly 
on her bed, with a happy, peaceful smile on her 
face. She spoke to her, and she answered her at 
once. She was quite well. Jesus had cured her, 
though He had neither seen her nor touched her. 
The next person He cured, was a deaf and dumb 
man. He could not hear; he could not speak; and 
his friends brought him to Jesus. There was a 
great crowd round Jesus, so He took the poor man 
by the hand, and led him out of the crowd. He 
gently put His fingers on his ears, then He touched 
his tongue, and then He looked up into the blue 
sky above them. 

“ Be opened,” He said. 

The man began to speak at once. He could hear 
perfectly. He was so happy now, that he ran about 
telling everyone, how he had been cured. 

We have not time to hear about everyone whom 
Jesus cured, but we will hear about one poor blind 
beggar. 

Jesus was one day coming away from a town 
called Jericho, with His disciples, and great crowds 


LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD 161 


of people. Some way off, a blind man was sitting 
by the side of tbe road begging. His name was 
Bartimseus; be was very poor, and people who 
passed by took pity on him, and would give him 
some money sometimes. As he sat there, he heard 
the tramp of many feet, and a murmur of a great 
many voices, and he asked someone near him, who 
was coming. He may have thought that it was the 
King, or a lot of Roman soldiers; he could not 
see; he could only hear. 

“ It is Jesus of Nazareth, the great prophet of 
God/’ said someone. The blind man was over¬ 
come with joy. He had longed to meet Jesus. He 
had heard of other blind men who had received 
sight; and one who had been born blind, had 
actually been cured, and saw for the first time in 
his life. Now was his chance! It had come at 
last. So he cried out at the top of his voice: 

'f Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” 

People who were standing by him, waiting to 
see Jesus pass by, did not like the noise he was 
making. 

“ Be quiet,” they said. “ Hold thy peace.” 

The blind man would not be quiet. He shouted 
all the louder. He was determined that Jesus 
should hear him, and then he thought he might be 
healed. 

Of course, Jesus heard him; it was difficult to 
see him, for the crowd was all round him now. 
But He said: 


162 LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD 

“ Bring him to Me.” 

People near Bartimseus, now spoke a little more 
kindly to him. 

u Be of good comfort. Rise, He calleth thee.” 

Bartimseus got up, and was in such a hurry, that 
he threw off his ragged cloak, and ran straight 
towards Jesus. He could not see, hut he was 
helped by people near him. Everyone in the place 
knew him. He had been sitting by the roadside 
for years. 

Then Jesus spoke to him: 

“ What wilt thou that I should do unto thee ? ” 

The blind man trembled all over, with excite¬ 
ment and hope. 

“ Lord,” he said; “ that I might receive my 
sight.” 

Jesus said, “ Go thy way. Thy faith hath made 
thee whole.” 

In a moment, sight came hack to him. How 
delicious it was to see the sun again, and the grass, 
and the trees, and all the people! But the one 
Bartimseus wanted to see most, was Jesus Him¬ 
self. He could not take his eyes off that beautiful, 
tender, comforting face. He did not run away 
home to see his friends and relations, and tell them 
the good news that he was cured. Many of the 
sick people did that, first of all. Ho; Bartimseus 
could not leave Jesus. He had given him his 
sight; he had heard so much about Him; now he 
determined to follow Him, wherever He went. 


LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD 163 


And so Bartimseus followed Hina rejoicingly 
along the road. 

Now there was a little village called Bethany, 
outside Jerusalem, and in it lived some friends 
of J esus’. They were two sisters, called 
Martha, and Mary, and their brother Lazarus. 
They had a nice little home; and when Jesus 
passed by on His way to Jerusalem, He generally 
stayed with them for the night. It was very quiet 
and restful there, and Martha, and Mary, and 
Lazarus all loved Jesus very, very much, and He 
loved them. 

The sisters were not much alike. Martha was 
very busy, and rather fussy, and noisy; Mary very 
quiet, and gentle. One day Jesus went to stay 
with them. He came in and took them by surprise, 
for they did not expect Him. They took Him into 
their best room, and made Him rest in a com¬ 
fortable seat; and then Mary, with joy in her eyes, 
and a happy smile upon her lips, came and sat 
down on the rug at His feet. 

“ Will you talk to me about God, and about 
Heaven ? ” she asked. And Jesus smiled upon her 
tenderly, and began to talk to her at once. 

Martha’s one thought was to get a nice supper 
ready for her dear Lord. And she bustled about, 
laying the table, and bringing in the cups, and 
dishes, and plates, and then going out into the 
kitchen to cook some nice little hot dish, and make 
some hot cakes. 'She wanted to have everything as 


164 LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD 


nice as possible; but it was tbe end of tbe day, and 
sbe was a little tired. 

Every time she went into the room, she saw 
Mary sitting close to Jesus, drinking in His words 
with joy and eagerness. Martha was not very fond 
of sitting still herself; she liked to be moving 
about, but she got cross when she saw that Mary 
took no notice of her, and left her to get the supper 
by herself; and at last her temper rose and got the 
better of her; she came into the room, and spoke 
a little impatiently: 

“ Lord, dost Thou not care that my sister hath 
left me to serve alone ? Bid her therefore, that she 
help me! ” 

That was very rude and unkind of Martha; she 
ought to have been glad that Mary was talking to 
their Guest, and making Him rest comfortably. 

Jesus looked up, and said to Martha very gently, 
but rather sadly: 

“ Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled 
about many things. But one thing is needful, and 
Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not 
be taken away from her.” 

Jesus would rather that Martha had been satis¬ 
fied with giving Him a plainer supper, and a little 
more of herself. He loved them both, and He 
wanted to make them good, and happy, by teaching 
them more about God, and of Himself. 

Well, one day, Jesus received a message from 
Martha, and Mary, telling Him that Lazarus was 


LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD 165 


very dangerously ill. They hoped He would come 
off at once, and heal him. But Jesus said to His 
disciples, when he received the message: 

“ This sickness is not unto death; it has been 
sent to Lazarus, so that God shall be thanked and 
praised.” 

And He stayed for two days longer in the place 
where He was. 

In those two days, Lazarus grew worse, and 
worse, and died. Martha and Mary were broken¬ 
hearted. 

At the end of two days, Jesus said to His dis¬ 
ciples : 

“ Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; I must go to 
wake him up.” 

“ But he’ll do well if he sleeps,” said the dis¬ 
ciples. 

“ Lazarus is dead,” said Jesus gravely, “ and I 
am glad for your sakes that I was not there, be¬ 
cause I want you to believe in Me more; now let 
us go to him.” 

It was a long journey, and Jesus did not hurry. 
When they came near Bethany at last, they soon 
heard the news. Lazarus was dead, and had been 
buried four days ago. How sad! The poor sisters 
felt that Jesus had forgotten them. They had sent 
for Him, and He would not come; now a lot of 
their friends were with them, trying to comfort 
them. Before Jesus had reached the house, some 
neighbor came in, and told Martha that He was 


166 LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD 


coming near the village. Martha jumped up at 
once, and ran out to meet Him. Mary was so ill 
with grief and despair, that she sat still, and 
cried on. 

Martha came to Jesus; her eyes were red with 
crying; she stretched out her arms to Him, and 
gave a bitter cry: 

“ Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had 
not died.” 

Then something in His face, such a soft loving 
smile, such solemn gladness in His eyes, made her 
add hastily: 

“ I know even now, whatsoever Thou wilt ask 
of God, He will give it Thee.” 

Jesus said: 

“ Thy brother shall rise again.” 

“ I know he will rise at the Resurrection,” said 
Martha, in a hopeless tone. Jesus told her that 
people who believed in Him, could never die. He 
was speaking of their souls, but Martha did not 
understand; she only told Jesus that she believed 
that He was Christ the Son of God; and then she 
went back to the house, and whispered in Mary’s 
ear that Jesus had arrived, and was calling for her. 
As soon as Mary heard that, she went to meet 
Jesus as fast as her feet would take her; she found 
Him just outside the village, and threw herself 
down at His feet. 

“ Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had 
not died.” And then she burst into fresh tears, 


LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD 167 


and cried as if her heart were breaking. Other 
people began to crj in sympathy with her. 

“Where have you laid him?” asked Jesus, 
looking very troubled, and the tears rising in His 
eyes. 

“ Lord, come and see.” 

They led Him to a cave in the garden, with a 
great stone before it; and as Jesus went along with 
Mary, He wept with her. He was so sorry for her. 

But when He came to the grave, He raised His 
head, and spoke very firmly: 

“ Take ye away the stone.” 

Martha hurried forward; she did not want it 
done; it was of no use; her brother had been dead 
four days. But Jesus insisted, and they obeyed 
Him. Then He lifted up His eyes to the blue sky 
above Him, and began to pray to God, and then in 
a loud voice He cried out: 

“ Lazarus, come forth ! ” 

There was a movement inside the cave. Can 
you think how Martha and Mary felt? And then 
the next minute, Lazarus walked out of the cave, 
smiling and well, though he was all tied up with 
his grave clothes. 

“ Loose him and let him go,” said Jesus. 

There was great joy and wonder over this. 
Martha and Mary received their dear brother back 
again from the dead, and at first could hardly be¬ 
lieve it was he. 

A lot of the Jews ran to tell some of their rulers 


168 LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD 


about this wonderful miracle. Others stayed with 
Jesus, for they now firmly believed He was the 
Son of God. 

Was not this a happy ending to such a sad story? 


\ 


XIII 


JESUS AXD HIS LAST PASSOVER 


W E have been hearing about all the sick 
people who came to Jesus to he 
healed, and about the dead being 
raised to life. How we will hear about other 
people who came to Jesus, because they loved Him; 
not for anything that they could get from Him. 
And I think we will begin with some little children 
first. 

One bright day, Jesus had been busy teaching, 
and talking to some people in a place called Judea. 
Presently along the road, came a number of women 
with babies in their arms, and little children tod¬ 
dling by their sides. How little children always 
loved our Lord, and He loved them. They would 
run along the roads after Him, and sometimes He 
would stop and speak to them. One day, He was 
talking to His disciples about being humble, and 
He called a little child to Him. The little boy had 
been standing near, listening to Jesus, and trying 
to understand what He said. Jesus took him up 
in His arms very lovingly and put him down in 
the middle of the circle round Him. He told His 
disciples that they must humble themselves, and be 
like this little boy, who believed everything Jesua 
169 


170 JESUS AND HIS LAST PASSOVER 


told him. The mothers in this part of the country 
knew how Jesus loved children; but they wanted 
Him to take them up in His arms, and bless them, 
before He went away from them. So they brought 
all their children along; big, and little. They felt 
that if Jesus touched them, He would make them 
good, and holy, as they ought to be, and that they 
would grow up good men, and women. The dis¬ 
ciples were impatient when they saw the children 
coming to the Saviour; they did not think it was 
worth while noticing children. Their Master had 
more important work than that. So they pushed 
them away very crossly and told the mothers not 
to trouble Jesus with them. Jesus turned round 
at once with a very grave, displeased face, and He 
scolded His disciples for being so unkind. 

“ Suffer the little children to come to Me,” He 
said. And then He held out His loving arms, and 
the children crowded into them. He blessed them, 
and as He put His hands on their soft curly heads, 
He smiled down upon them, and made the mothers’ 
hearts full of joy. Would you not like to have 
been lifted into His arms and been blessed ? 

I expect the bigger children remembered that 
day for the rest of their lives. 

“I think, when I read the sweet story of old, 

How when Jesus was here among men 
He once called little children as lambs to His Fold, 

I should like to have been with them then. 

I wish that His Hands had been placed on my head, 
That His arms had been thrown around me, 

And that I might have seen His kind look when he said, 
Let the little ones come unto Me.” 


JESUS AND HIS LAST PASSOVER 171 


Soon after this, a young man in very rich 
clothes, came running up to Jesus. People stared 
at him. They knew he was a very rich young 
ruler, and had a big beautiful house, and lands, and 
a lot of money. But he just knelt down as any 
ragged beggar might, at the feet of Jesus. 

“ Good Master,” he said very humbly; “ what 
shall I do to get life, which will last for ever ? ” 

“ Keep all God’s commandments perfectly,” 
said Jesus; “ if you do that, you will be perfectly 
holy, and be able to live with God for ever.” 

“ Oh, I’ve done that,” said the young man 
quickly; “ ever since I was a tiny boy, I have kept 
the commandments.” 

I think he did not know what he was saying; 
and Jesus just showed him that he did not love God 
as thoroughly as he ought. He said to him: 

“ One thing thou lackest. Go and sell all thou 
hast, give it to the poor, and come, take up thy 
cross and follow Me.” 

One of the chief commandments of God is to 
love Him with all our hearts and souls. If this 
young man had done that, he would have cheerfully 
sold his big house, and carriages, and horses, and 
all his fine things, given the money to the poor, and 
come to Jesus and followed Him, because Jesus 
was God’s dear Son. The disciples had forsaken 
all they had, to follow Jesus. This young man 
could not, and would not. He went away sorrow¬ 
ful. He thought he loved Jesus; but not enough 


172 JESUS AND HIS LAST PASSOVER 


to give up everything for His sake. He went hack 
to his big house, and all his possessions, for he 
loved them more than Jesus. 

Now we will hear about another man, who 
wanted to see Jesus. This was another rich man, 
but he had got all his money in a dishonest way. 
He was a man who collected money from the people 
for the Roman taxes, and he cheated them when 
he did so, taking more from them than he ought. 
His name was Zacchseus. He had heard a great 
deal about Jesus, and he wanted very much to see 
Him. One day, he heard that Jesus was coming 
through Jericho, where he lived. He ran out of 
his house, and was determined to see Him now; 
but he was a short little man, and the crowd, wait¬ 
ing to see Jesus pass, would not give him a chance. 
He could not see over their heads, and they would 
not let him get in front of them, so he looked about 
him, and saw a big tree by the roadside. He did 
not care who saw him; he just climbed up into that 
tree, like a boy, and hid himself among the thick 
leaves. “ Now,” he thought, “ I shall be able to 
see Him, and no one will see me.” 

Jesus came slowly along, and the crowds were 
on each side of Him. All at once, just under the 
big tree, Jesus looked up, and Zacchaeus knew he 
was discovered! He was startled, and amazed 
when Jesus called him by his name: 

“Zacchaeus,” He said, and I expect He looked 
up at the little man with a tender smile; “ make 


JESUS AND HIS LAST PASSOVER 173 


haste and come down, for to-day I must abide at 
thy house.” 

Zacchaeus could hardly believe his ears! What! 
This great and wonderful Jesus coming to his 
house as a guest! What an honor and joy for him! 
People despised him because he was a publican and 
tax-gatherer. Jesus did not. Zacchaeus scrambled 
down from his tree, delighted. He hurried on in 
front, to tell his wife to prepare a meal for his 
honored guest; and then he stood at his door, and 
received Jesus joyfully. People in the crowd 
grumbled: 

“ He has gone to be a guest with a wicked man,” 
they said. But after Jesus had been talking with 
Zacchaeus for a little, the poor man began to feel 
as if he would like to turn over a new leaf, and be 
good. So he told Jesus he would give half hia 
money away to the poor, and pay back four times 
as much money as he had taken from the people, 
whom he had cheated. Jesus saw he was really 
sorry for his bad ways, and He said: 

“ This day is salvation come to this house, for 
the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that 
which was lost.” 

Jesus was kind to bad people, because He 
wanted to make them good. 

One day He was invited to supper, with a Jew 
who thought himself very good and holy. 

A poor sad woman who had done a lot of wrong 
things in her life, heard He was there. She had 


174 JESUS AND HIS LAST PASSOVER 


often listened to His preaching, and had learnt 
to love Jesus very much. She went and bought 
some very beautiful scented ointment, and then 
crept into the house. In those days, the houses 
were open to the street, and when it was hot, people 
had their meals in their open gardens, and court¬ 
yards. She soon found her way to where Jesus 
was sitting, and then she was so overcome that she 
began to cry; she stood behind Him, and her tears 
fell fast. She felt she was a sinner, and wanted 
her sins to be forgiven, but she loved Jesus so 
much, that she ventured to do something. She 
bent over his feet, and her tears fell so fast on 
them, that she had to wipe them away, and she took 
her beautiful long hair to do it with. Then she 
kissed them, and put her precious ointment upon 
them. I daresay our Lord’s feet were sore and 
aching. He walked and stood upon them so much; 
and the ointment soothed and cooled them. 

'Simon the Jew, who was giving Jesus supper, 
was very angry when he saw this woman doing 
what she did. He said she was wasting her money, 
buying that precious ointment, and she had no 
business to come near Jesus, as she had been a very 
wicked woman. 

But Jesus smiled on the woman, and He told 
Simon that the woman had loved Him more, and 
been kinder to Him than Simon had. 

“ I entered thy house; thou gavest Me no water 
for My feet, but she hath washed My feet with 


JESUS AND HIS LAST PASSOVER 175 


tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. 
Thou gavest Me no kiss; she hath not ceased to 
kiss my feet since I came in.” 

And then He told the woman that her sins, 
which were many, were all forgiven, for her love 
for Him, showed how sorry she waa for her past 
life. He told her to go in peace. 

She went away, sobbing for joy now. How kind 
and gentle and good our Lord had been with her! 
She felt that she would never, never forget His 
Love. 

It was very strange that when Jesus Christ was 
so good and holy, and lived only to make other 
people well, and good, and happy, that there should 
have been so many of the Jews who hated Him, 
and even tried to kill Him. The Jews who hated 
Him most were the Pharisees, and scribes, and 
rulers of the people. These men thought them¬ 
selves very good, and holy; and as they were teach¬ 
ers of the Bible, and of God, they were very angry 
when Jesus taught the people differently to them¬ 
selves. Jesus spoke of the love of God; they never 
did. They were determined to kill Him, if they 
could, for they said He pretended to he God’s Son, 
when He was only a carpenter’s son. Several 
times they sent people to take Him prisoner, and 
bring Him to them; once they tried to kill Him 
by throwing stones at Him, but each time Jesus 
escaped. God would not let them touch Him be¬ 
fore His time. 


176 JESUS AND HIS LAST PASSOVER 


Jesus knew that the time would come for Him 
to he killed, and He often told His disciples about 
it, hut they never seemed to understand Him. Be¬ 
fore Jesus left Heaven, He had said He was 
willing to come, and be horn as a little baby on 
this earth, and live a good life, trusting in God 
for everything, to show us how we ought to live on 
earth. And He was also willing to die, because by 
His death, He could be punished for our sins, and 
we could be forgiven, and go to Heaven when we 
die. One tiny drop of the life-blood of the Holy 
Son of God, would be enough to save the whole 
world. And we are told that He did not spare 
Himself, but poured out His soul unto death. 
This is difficult for you to understand, hut you will 
when you get older. 

Jesus had taught the people about God for three 
years. The crowds of people who followed Him 
about, more than once, wanted to make Him King 
over them, but Jesus told them His Kingdom was 
not of this world. When you get older, you will 
be able to read the wonderful stories, that Jesus 
told about the Kingdom of Heaven. We have not 
room in this book to tell all His stories; we are 
telling you about His life; not His Teaching. 

And now the time had come for Jesus to come 
up to Jerusalem, and die. The Passover Feast was 
going to he kept, and He told His disciples He 
meant to go up to it. They did not want Him to 
go; for they knew now that the Pharisees in Jeru- 


JESUS AND HIS LAST PASSOVER 177 


salem wanted to kill Him. But Jesus, we are told, 
set His face steadfastly towards Jerusalem. Lots 
of other people were going up to keep the Feast. 
When they reached the Mount of Olives, just out¬ 
side Jerusalem, Jesus sent two of His disciples on 
in front, to get a young donkey for Him to ride 
on. He knew just where it would be found. He 
told them He would ride into Jerusalem, not walk. 
They soon came back with the donkey, and put 
some of their long cloaks across its back, for their 
Master to sit upon. Then Jesus rode into Jeru¬ 
salem, His disciples walking by His side; but the 
crowds of people now began to get very excited. 
Some came out of Jerusalem to meet Jesus, for 
they had heard He was coming; they began to 
think at last they might make Him their King. 
They threw down their cloaks and garments on the 
road, for His donkey to tread upon; they cut down 
branches from the trees and scattered them before 
Him, and the children, waving palm branches in 
their hands, shouted at the top of their voices: 

“ Hosanna! Hosanna! to the Son of David! 
Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the 
Lord.” 

People in the city looked out of their windows, 
when they heard this shouting, and ran out of the 
shops, and began to ask: 

“ Who is this ? ” 

The crowds answered: “ This is Jesus, the 

prophet of Nazareth of Galilee!” 


178 JESUS AND HIS LAST PASSOVER 


The Pharisees soon heard! that Jesus was in 
Jerusalem; they met together, and talked about 
getting hold of Him, and killing Him, but they 
were afraid of the people. All day long, Jesus 
stayed in the Temple, teaching the people; in the 
evening, He went outside the town, at the quiet 
Mount of Olives, where He spent all the night in 
praying to God. 

The next day, His disciples came to Him, and 
asked Him where they should kill and eat their 
lamb. For it was the Feast of the Passover. What 
house were they to lodge in to do it? Jesus told 
them to go into the town, and they would meet a 
man carrying a jug of water. 

“Follow him,” Jesus said; “ and when he goes 
into a house, you go after him, and ask the master 
of the house to show you his guest-chamber. He 
will show you a large room upstairs all ready for 
us. Prepare for the Passover there.” 

So the disciples did as they were told; and in 
the evening Jesus came with the twelve disciples 
up to that room. 

How I must tell you that a few days before, one 
Of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, had slipped quietly 
away from his Master. He went to the Pharisees, 
who were plotting how to take Jesus prisoner, and 
he said to them: 

“What will ye give me if I deliver Him to 
you ? ” 


JESUS AND HIS LAST PASSOVER 179 


And they told him they would give him thirty 
bits of silver. 

It was not a big sum of money, but Judas loved 
money. We can hardly believe that after living 
with Jesus these three years, and being loved by 
Him, he could do such a wicked cruel thing, as to 
give his Master up to those who wanted to kill 
Him. But he made up his mind he would do it. 
He went about with Jesus all these days, just wait¬ 
ing his opportunity to betray Him. 

And now Judas was actually eating the Passover 
Supper with Jesus, and pretending he was as fond 
of Him as the others. What a wicked, wickecl 
man! 

Did J esus know he was wicked ? Yes, He knew 
all about it. He had always known that Judas 
was not what he pretended’ to be. 

They were all round that table in the upper 
room, and after a part of the supper was over, 
Jesus got a big jug and basin, that had been put 
there for them to wash in, and He poured some 
water out, and tied a towel round His waist, and' 
then knelt before each of His disciples, and began 
to wash their dusty, aching feet, and dry them 
with a towel, just like a poor humble slave or serv¬ 
ant would do. The disciples were very uncom¬ 
fortable at their dear Master doing this. When 
Jesus came to Peter, he said: 

“ Thou shalt never wash my feet.” 

He couldn’t bear his Master to do such servant’s 


180 JESUS AND HIS LAST PASSOVER 


work. Jesus said: “ If I wash you not, you can¬ 
not belong to Me.” 

“ Oh,” said Peter; “ wash me all over then, 
Lord.” 

“No,” said Jesus; “only your feet. I have 
washed you already, and most of you are clean, but 
not all.” 

Jesus meant that He had already washed their 
hearts clean, except Judas’s. He was unclean. 
And then He told them that just as He had washed 
their feet, they must wash other peoples’ feet. 
They must be ready to do any kindness for others, 
and never be too proud to serve them just as serv¬ 
ants would do. As they sat eating the Passover 
lamb, Jesus told His disciples that He was like the 
Passover lamb; that He was going to be killed for 
the sins of the world, and His blood, sprinkled on 
the hearts of His people, would save them from 
everlasting death. His disciples could not under¬ 
stand Him, but they began to feel frightened and 
sad. They saw that Jesus was troubled. At last 
He said straight out to them: 

“ Do you know that one of you is going to 
betray Me, to give Me up to be killed ? ” 

They were horrified. They all began to look at 
each other, and wonder which of them could be so 
wicked. 

John was sitting next to Jesus; he was almost 
lying in His arms. He whispered to Jesus: 

“ Lord', who is it ? ” 


JESUS AND HIS LAST PASSOVER 181 


Jesus said: “ IPs the one to whom I will give 
this bit of bread, when I have dipped it in the 
dish.” 

And He stretched out His hand and gave the bit 
of bread to Judas, and then He said to him: 

“ Go and do what you mean to do, at once.” 

Judas knew then, that Jesus knew all about him. 
He hurried out of the room, with his head hanging 
down. He may even at this last minute have been 
sorry, and half-inclined to give up his wicked plan, 
but he had let Satan tempt him so often, that now 
he could not drive him out of his heart; and Satan 
made him go straight to the wicked Jews, and tell 
them that he knew Jesus would be out in a garden 
near, that evening, and that he would bring them 
to Him there. 

This beautiful garden was called the Garden of 
Gethsemane. People could go and walk in it, and 
sit down under the trees, and enjoy the cool shade 
when the sun was hot. It was very quiet at night; 
hardly anyone used it then, and Jesus was in the 
habit of going there to pray, before He went to 
bed. When Judas had gone away, Jesus took some 
bread and some wine; and He gave both to His 
disciples in a very solemn way. He blessed the 
bread and broke it, and gave them each a piece, 
and said that the bread was His Body; and then 
He blessed the wine, and gave it to them, and’ told 
them that it was His Blood. And then He told 
them that He always wished them to eat bread and 


182 JESUS AND HIS LAST PASSOVER 


drink wine together, and think of this night, when 
He gave it to them. 

“ My body is going to die; My blood is going 
to be shed for you. Remember it, and have supper 
like this together, when I am gone, and’ think of 
Me.” 

Then He talked to them in a beautiful way of 
how He must leave them; but that they must not 
be unhappy, as He was going away to Heaven to 
get a place ready there for them, and that one day 
He would come back, and take them there. 

When He did leave them, He told them that God 
the Holy Spirit would' come down from Heaven 
and comfort them. And that He would stay with 
them, and live in their hearts, and show them how 
to be good, and remind them of all that He had 
told them to do. 

The disciples listened with sad faces. They 
began to be afraid that something dreadful was 
going to happen, and yet they did not know what. 

Then Jesus asked them to sing a hymn with 
Him. And when it was over, He took them down¬ 
stairs, out of doors across the streets, to the dark, 
silent garden. As they were walking there, Jesus 
said: 

“ I am going to die very soon; I am going to be 
betrayed into the hands of My enemies to-night. 
And you will all forsake and’ leave Me.” 

Peter said very quickly: 


JESUS AND HIS LAST PASSOVER 183 


* £ Lord, I am ready to go with Thee, both into 
prison and to death.” 

Jesus looked at him sadly. 

“ I tell thee, Peter, that this day, even in this 
night before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny 
Me thrice! ” 

Peter was hurt and' rather angry. 

“ If I should die with Thee,” he said earnestly; 
“ I will not deny Thee in any wise.” 

And the other disciples all cried out, saying that 
they would never, never leave Him. 

They little thought what cowards they were 
going to be! 

And now they came to a little brook, and crossed 
over it. The garden was reached. All seemed 
peaceful and still, but the disciples followed their 
Master into it, with troubled hearts. 


XIV 


JESUS UPON THE CROSS 

W HEX they were in the garden, Jesus 
told His disciples to sit down in a 
certain place, and wait for Him; but 
He asked Peter, and James, and John, to come 
with Him, while He prayed to God. He went 
farther on, to a very quiet corner, and now His 
disciples saw that He began to look very troubled 
and unhappy. Perhaps they were anxious and 
frightened; they may have gone on talking to Him, 
and asking Him questions; and Jesus felt He must 
be silent, as He had a dreadful time in front of 
Him, and He wanted to prepare Himself for it. 
So He presently said: 

“ My soul is very sorrowful, wait here, and pray 
with Me.” 

He went a little farther, and begged God to help 
him, and if it was possible, not to let Him suffer 
as much as He expected to, but He ended His 
prayer by saying: “ Yet not as I will, but as Thou 
wilt.” Presently He came back to Peter, and the 
others. Instead of praying to God for Him, they 
had fallen fast asleep. They were very tired, and 
generally went to bed before this time, as it was 
now getting late. Jesus said to them: 

“ What, could ye not watch with Me one hour ? 
184 



“bearing in his soul the sin of all the world 




























































































































JESUS UPON THE CROSS 185 

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into tempta¬ 
tion.” 

Three times He came to them, but each time, 
He found them sleeping. It seemed that when He 
was in the greatest trouble, nobody cared' enough 
to keep awake, to comfort, and help Him. 

But as He knelt alone, praying to God, with 
tears dropping down His cheeks, God sent an angel 
to comfort Him. And the last time He came to 
His disciples, He said: 

“ Rise up now. Let us be going. He who is 
betraying Me comes near.” 

The disciples started up. They heard voices 
now, and in the distance saw lanterns and torches 
waving in the air, and heard the clash of swords, 
and soldiers marching. They went back to where 
the other disciples were waiting for them. Jesus 
stood among them, very quiet and still. He was 
waiting. 

And then the wicked Judas crept up very softly, 
and before anyone could stop him, he had kissed 
Jesus, saying, “Hail, Master,” as if he loved 
Him. 

Ho you know why he kissed Jesus? Because, 
being dark, the soldiers who had come to take Him 
prisoner, might easily have caught the wrong man 
by mistake, and so Judas told them, “ Whoever I 
shall kiss, is the Man you want. Hold Him fast! ” 

When Jesus received Judas’s kiss He said very 
sadly: 


186 


JESUS UPON THE CROSS 


“ Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with 
a kiss ? ” 

Then the soldiers all crowded round, and seized 
J esus. 

Peter was so angry, that he got hold of one of 
their swords, and dashed at a man who was taking 
hold of Jesus, and cut off his ear. 

Jesus actually put out His loving hand, and 
touched the man’s ear, and it was healed at once. 
And then He said: 

“ Put up thy sword. Do you think I cannot 
pray to God to send Me hundreds of angels, and' 
He would do it at once? Here I am, you can take 
Me, hut do not take my disciples. Let them go 
their way.” 

The crowd of angry men, and soldiers were be¬ 
ginning to lay hold of the disciples, but when J esus 
said that, they let them go, and then sudden fright 
seized the disciples, and everyone of them took to 
their heels, and fled out of the garden for their 
lives. Even brave Peter, who said he was ready 
to die with Jesus, ran away. 

Now they bound Jesus with ropes, and they led 
Him out of the garden, and through the dark 
streets of Jerusalem, to the High Priest’s Palace". 
Here a lot of Jesus’ enemies were sitting, wait¬ 
ing for Him to be brought as a prisoner before 
them. It was in the middle of the night, but they 
did not mind sitting up. They knew they dare not 
take hold of Jesus in the daytime, because the peo- 


JESUS UPON THE CROSS 


187 


pie loved Him, and might have fought for Him. 
So they took Him when all His friends were fast 
asleep in their beds. Could Jesus have got away 
from them if He had’ chosen ? 

Yes, but He would not save Himself. He meant 
to die, because He was to die to save us from 
punishment of sin. 

The little hymn says: 

“ He died that we might be forgiven, 

He died to make us good, 

That we might go at last to HeaVn, 

Saved by His precious Blood. 

There was no other good enough 
To pay the price of sin, 

He only could unlock the gate 
Of Heav’n, and let us in.” 

When they came to the palace, they took Jesus 
into a big room, and the High Priest spoke to Him 
very angrily: 

u Are you the Son of God ? ” he asked. 

Jesus said very quietly: 

“ You are right. I am. And one day you will 
see Me come down from Heaven with great power.” 

Then they were very angry. 

“ He shall die for saying such words! He de¬ 
serves to die! As soon as the morning comes, we 
will take Him to Pilate the Judge, and he will have 
Him killed.” 

Then the soldiers, and the bad people round, 
began to knock Jesus about. They slapped and* 
beat Him, and’ even spat in His face, He said 


188 


JESUS UPON THE CROSS 


never a word, but bore it all with great quietness. 
So the long night passed. 

But where were the frightened disciples? 

Well, Peter soon stopped running away. When 
he saw Jesus being led through the streets, he fol¬ 
lowed Him, only a long way behind. Another dis¬ 
ciple, whom I think was John, followed too, and 
when the High Priest’s Palace was reached, he 
went in at the door after Jesus, for he knew the 
High Priest, and the servants let him in. Pres¬ 
ently he came back to the door, and beckoned Peter 
in. He asked a maid-servant to allow him to come 
in. She looked up into Peter’s face, and said: 
“ Art not thou also one of this Man’s disciples ? ” 

And Peter said very hurriedly, and looking very 
frightened: 

“ No, I am not.” 

He was both a liar and' a coward. How sad I 

Then, as it was very cold, Peter drew near to 
the big fire in the hall and warmed himself at it 
with the other servants. His heart was miserable. 
He did not know what to do; and how he could 
get near Jesus. Presently the maid looked' at him 
again. “ This is one of them,” she said; “ he was 
with Jesus of Hazareth.” 

“ I was not; I don’t know Him,” Peter said 
again. Then he grew more frightened, and went 
out into the porch. And when he got there he 
heard a cock crow. It was very early morning now. 

Then another man came up to him. 


JESUS UPON THE CROSS 189 

“I am sure you belong to Jesus of Nazareth; 
I saw you in the garden.” 

Peter was so frightened that he began to curse, 
and to swear that he had never known Jesus. 

And as he was speaking, again the cock crew. 

From the porch where he was, he could just see 
into the big room where Jesus was. And at this 
moment, Jesus turned His head and looked at 
Peter. 

Such a sorrowful, loving look! It flashed into 
Peter’s mind then, how Jesus had said: 

“ This night before the cock crow twice, thou 
shalt deny me thrice.” 

He went out into the street, and cried bitterly. 

How could he have told such lies! How could 
he be ashamed of knowing Jesus, whom He loved 
so much! 

It was Satan who tempted him to be so wicked. 
If he had been praying to God, when Jesus told 
him to, in the garden, and asking for help, instead 
of going to sleep, perhaps he would not have been 
so wicked now. Poor Peter! He had run away, 
and denied His dear Lord. He was very, very 
miserable. He felt he would never be happy again. 

Very early the next morning, the chief priests 
and rulers of the Jews took Jesus off to Pontius 
Pilate, the Governor or Judge. Pilate sat on a high 
seat in the street. He asked Jesus a great many 
questions; and the wicked Jews, who hated Him, 
told a lot of lies about Him, and made Him out 


190 


JESUS UPON THE GROSS 


to be a very dangerous man, and a man who ought 
to be hanged, or crucified. They said He was try¬ 
ing to make Himself a King, and would overthrow 
Pilate, if He became one, and everyone, in au¬ 
thority. Pilate did not want to say that Jesus 
must die, but the Jews were making such a noise, 
and were so furious, that he felt rather afraid of 
them. Wishing to save Jesus, he said: “Well, at 
this feast, we always set one prisoner free. We 
have another prisoner, who is sentenced to die; he 
is a very wicked robber, BaraJ>bas. Now shall I 
let Jesus go free, or Barabbas ? ” 

They all cried out “ Barabbas.” 

Pilate was quite sure that Jesus was innocent; 
he knew that the Jews were envious of Him, be¬ 
cause the people liked Him better than themselves, 
and listened to Him when He taught them. And 
just as he was sitting down in his seat, he got a 
message from his wife telling him that he must let 
Jesus go free, because of a dream that she had had 
about Him. So he took water, and washed his 
hands, and said to the Jews: 

“ I am innocent of this good man’s death. You 
must see to it.” But he knew, as a judge, he 
would have to do something; so he ordered Jesus 
to be scourged, and then he thought that would 
satisfy these cruel Jews. 

J So the soldiers took our Lord, and beat Him 
with knotted ropes, till His back was sore and 
bleeding, and then in a big hall, they all began to 


JESUS UPON THE CROSS 191 

ill-treat Him, and mock at Him. Jesus never said 
a word. The soldiers said': 

“ He says He is a King. We will make Him 
one.” So they dressed Him up in some fine robes, 
and got some very prickly thorns off a tree in the 
garden, and twisted them round His head, so as to 
prick and' hurt Him, pretending it was His crown, 
and they gave Him a rod to hold, and then drove 
Him out of the hall. Pilate saw Him; and showed 
Him to the people. 

“ Here is your King,” he said. 

He hoped they would be sorry to see our Lord 
so ill-used and beaten; and say it was enough pun¬ 
ishment. But they yelled, and screamed, with all 
their might: 

“ Away with Him! Crucify Him! ” 

Then Pilate gave Jesus up to them; and they 
led Him away. Now when any slave, or very bad 
man, was condemned to death, they made a big 
wooden cross, and nailed him on it. Then they 
made a hole in the earth, and stood the cross up¬ 
right in it, and left the man hanging there, till he 
died. This was how they meant to kill our Lord. 
They took Him along; got a cross ready for Him, 
and when they found He was too weak, and ex¬ 
hausted’ after His heating, and ill-treatment, to 
carry it Himself, they made a countryman, called 
Simon, carry it for Him. 

And so they led Jesus through the streets; His 
cross going after Him; and a great company of 


192 


JESUS UPON THE CROSS 


people, and of women followed, all crying, and 
wailing because they loved Him so. His fright¬ 
ened disciples were in that crowd, but where was 
J udas \ 

Well, when he found how Jesus was going to be 
tortured, and killed, he bitterly repented of his 
wickedness; and he took the thirty pieces of silver, 
which he had been given, for betraying Jesus into 
His enemies’ hands, and he went off to the priests, 
and elders, and said: 

“ I’ve been very wicked; take back your money. 
Jesus is innocent. He must not die.” 

They laughed at him. 

“ We don’t care whether you’ve been wicked or 
not. You must see to that! ” 

Judas dashed down the silver on the ground, 
before them, and went straight away to a lonely 
field, and hanged himself. That was the end of 
the traitor Judas Iscariot. 

Now let us return to our Lord. 

Outside the town, on the top of a green hill, were 
three wooden crosses standing up against the sky 
with three men hanging on them. Soldiers guarded 
the crosses, so that no one should try to touch them, 
or try to save the men who were dying on them. 
And they stripped Jesus of His clothes, and were 
dividing them up between them. Crowds of people 
covered the hill, some watching out of curiosity, 
some sobbing bitterly with grief. Perhaps a 
stranger passing by would ask: 


JESUS UPON THE CROSS 


193 


“ Who are these bad men being crucified ? Are 
they thieves and murderers ? ” 

The answer would be: 

“ Two are thieves of the worst kind; but the 
middle one is the gentle Holy Jesus of Nazareth, 
the prophet of God. He told us He was God’s own 
Son, and had come down from Heaven to visit us. 
He is dying because He said that, and the governor 
has written over His cross, * This is Jesus, the 
King of the Jews.’ Listen to those cruel men who 
are mocking him-” 

The stranger went nearer. 

“ If Thou be the Son of God come down from 
the cross and save Thyself,” shouted the wicked 
Jews. 

Jesus looked sorrowfully at them. He could 
have come down so easily, but He was dying there 
for us, and He loved us too much to think of His 
own sufferings. 

“ They laugh at Him and mock Him! 

They tell Him to ‘ come down/ 

And leave that Cross of suffering 
And change it for a Crown. 

Why did He bear their mockings? 

Was He the ‘ Mighty God/ 

And could He have destroyed them 
With one almighty word? 

Yes, Jesus could have done it, 

But let me tell you why 
He would not use His power, 

But chose to stay and die. 



194 


JESUS UPON THE CROSS 


It was for us He suffered, 

For our sins He died, 

And not for ours only, 

But all the world’s beside!” 

Suddenly, black clouds began to gather in the 
sky. The sun disappeared; it grew darker and 
darker until it was as dark as night. And yet it 
was in the very middle of the day. People began 
to be very frightened. They said that God must 
be angry with them, to take away the sun. 

As Jesus hung on the cross, in the midst of great 
thirst and great pain, He still thought of others. 
Sometimes His lips moved in prayer, and people near 
the cross heard what He said. Once He prayed for 
the wicked people, who were killing Him. 

“ Father, forgive them. They know not what 
they do.” 

Once he looked down very lovingly upon his 
favorite disciple and His mother. They had both 
come up as close to Him as they could now. Their 
hearts were breaking. They had never thought 
that Jesus would really die like any other common 
man. They hoped up to the last minute, that He 
would save Himself. Jesus said to His mother: 
“Behold your son.” And then He said to John: 
“ Behold thy mother! ” 

In that way, He gave His poor mother into 
John’s charge; and from that hour, John took her 
to his own home, and tried to be a son to her. 

Once He spoke to one of the thieves beside Him. 
One of these men actually mocked Him, but the 


JESUS UPON THE CROSS 


195 


other, in a wonderful way, believed that Jesus was 
God’s Son and a King. He told his comrade that 
Jesus was suffering innocently, hut that they were 
not. And then he looked at Jesus, and asked to 
be remembered when He came into His Kingdom. 
Jesus said: 

“ Truly I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be 
with Me in Paradise.” 

Then a little later, Jesus felt Himself getting 
weaker, and weaker, and His lips moved in prayer 
again: 

“ Father, into Thy Hands I commend My 
spirit.” 

Then just before He died, He cried out in a 
loud voice: 

“ It is finished.” 

And then He died. 

As He died, the earth shook, and trembled all 
over. Great rocks split into little pieces. There 
was a terrible earthquake, and in the Temple the 
beautiful big curtain, that was there, was torn in 
pieces from top to bottom. 

It was a terrible day, and one of the officers who 
was there on duty said: 

“ Truly this was the Son of God.” 

Yet even after Jesus was dead, a cruel soldier 
pierced His side with the point of his spear, to 
make sure He was really dead. And then when 
that was done, they took the cross down, and left it 
lying on the ground. And all the women who loved 


196 


JESUS UPON THE GROSS 


Jesus, came and sat upon the ground by it, and 
wept over Him. 

It was the blackest day in all their lives. 

They could hardly believe even now, that their 
dear Saviour and Master was really dead—that 
they would never hear His loving voice, and see 
His beautiful smile again. 

It seemed so terrible that He had’ been made to 
suffer so dreadfully, and he killed in such a shame¬ 
ful way, when He was so Holy and Good and Inno¬ 
cent. They could not understand it. 



“BRIGHT SHINING FORMS WERE THERE . . . SAYING THAT 
JESUS HAD RISEN AND THE PLACE WAS EMPTY” 













XV 


A JOYFUL DAY 

N OW there was a rich man, and a good 
man, called Joseph of Arimathea. He 
was one of the rulers of the Jews, but 
he loved Jesus with all his heart. He was very 
angry with the other rulers for taking Jesus to 
Pilate, but he could not prevent them from doing 
it. We are told that he “ waited for the Kingdom 
of God.” He had hoped up to the last that Jesus 
would not be killed, and would become a great 
King. He was a friend of Hicodemus’, another 
ruler, who had come once to see Jesus, and talk 
to Him in the middle of the night. Joseph had a 
beautiful house and garden, and in his garden, was 
rather a strange thing. In a very quiet shady cor¬ 
ner, almost hidden by the beautiful trees around 
it, he had built a lovely stone tomb for himself 
when he died. It was not like our graves in the 
churchyards. It was cut out of a big rock, and 
was like a tiny little room; only it had no windows 
in it, and only a great big stone for a door. Kich 
people often built their graves in their gardens be¬ 
fore they died. Flowers grew round them, and 
birds sang in the trees above them. 

197 


198 


A JOYFUL DAY 


Well, Joseph and' Hieodemus were both disciples 
of Jesus, but they kept it secret, for they were 
rather afraid of the other Jews, who hated Jesus 
so. How Joseph got quite bold. His heart was so 
full of love and sorrow for Jesus that he deter¬ 
mined to bury Him in his own, grave. He felt he 
would love to have his Lord’s Body lying in his 
beautiful garden, and so he went straight off to 
Pilate, and asked him if he could take the Body 
of Jesus away from the cross, and bury it in his 
garden, as he had a grave ready there. Pilate said 
“ Yes.” Then he and Nicodemus came together, 
and they found our Lord’s Body lying on the 
ground close to where His cross had been; and His 
mother and other women and friend’s, who loved 
Him dearly, were sobbing bitterly, as they bent 
over Him. 

Joseph had brought some beautiful white linen 
with him, and Hicodemus had brought some sweet¬ 
smelling spices. They told the women what they 
were going to do; and then they gently and care¬ 
fully wrapped up our Lord’s Body in the linen, 
and put the spices upon Him, and then they carried 
Him very gently, and reverently along the road, 
and into Joseph’s garden. The women followed, 
crying as they went. All the crowds of people that 
had been round the cross that day, had gone home 
now. Everyone was getting ready for their Sun¬ 
day, which was coming. 

It was a very quiet evening. The earthquake 


A JOYFUL DAY 


199 


and darkness had gone, and when they came into 
the garden it seemed a beautiful place for our Lord 
to be buried in. The flowers were smelling very 
sweet; it was cool and shady under the trees. The 
birds were just going to rest for the night. It was 
a strange, silent funeral, but everyone there had 
hearts full of love for Jesus. They were very, very 
unhappy. The women knew that they had lost 
their best Friend in the World. How could they 
learn to be good now their Master had left them? 
Joseph and Nicodemus were just as unhappy as 
the women were. When our Lord’s Body had been 
laid down in this grave, Joseph had the big stone 
rolled across the doorway. It was too big for any¬ 
one to lift away, and it fitted tightly. 

Then Joseph sorrowfully turned away; and told 
the women to go home. It was no use waiting 
there. The next day was the Jews’ Sunday. No¬ 
body came near graves on Sunday. They were 
busy going to church. Jesus was dead and buried, 
and it seemed as if there was an end of everything. 
So the poor women went back to their homes. But 
when they got back, they determined to get some 
more spices, and sweet-smelling ointment, and take 
it to the grave. They felt they would like to do 
something for their Master’s tired dead body. So 
they prepared the ointment, and rested all the next 
day. 

It was such a very sad Sunday! Peter and the 
other disciples did not know what to do; they felt 


200 


A JOYFUL DAY 


lost without their Master; they sobbed bitterly as 
they thought how they had forsaken Him at the 
last. They were so broken-hearted, so despairing, 
that they all forgot that Jesus had told them more 
than once, that He would die, but that He would 
not stay dead; He would rise again. 

Jesus’ enemies did not forget this. They felt 
that God had shown His anger at the Crucifixion, 
by sending the earthquake and darkness. Perhaps 
in some way, Jesus might come to life again, or 
His disciples might steal His Body, and tell the 
people that He had risen. So they went to Pilate, 
and asked that some soldiers might be sent to 
Joseph’s garden, to seal up the door tight, and 
watch day and night, to see that nobody meddled 
with the grave. This was done. We are told, they 
“ made the grave secure, sealing the stone, and set¬ 
ting a watch.” 

And now very early on the first day of the week, 
when Joseph’s garden lay still and beautiful in the 
golden light of the rising sun, when the birds were 
awake and singing joyously, when some of the 
sweet flower-buds were just opening into flowers, 
the two women who had been preparing their spices 
and ointment, came to the gate of the garden. It 
was hardly light yet. They found the gate open, 
and slipped in quietly. They did not know about 
the soldiers guarding the grave, and they were 'won¬ 
dering if they could get anyone to roll away the 
big stone for them. They knew they could not do 


A JOYFUL DAY 


201 


it themselves. But when they got to the grave the 
stone was rolled away. They were astonished. 
There were no soldiers near it. They peeped in¬ 
side, but the body of Jesus was not there. 
They were frightened then. What had hap¬ 
pened! Who had taken Him away? And 
then suddenly, close by their side, they saw two 
people in shining garments. It looked as if the 
sun was blazing upon them. They knew they must 
be angels, and fell on the ground before them, and 
covered their faces. 

The angels said: 

“ Why do you seek the living among the dead ? 
He is not here, but is risen. Don’t you remember 
He used to tell you that He would be crucified, and 
buried, and then rise again on the third day ? ” 

Then the angels disappeared. It seemed too 
good to be true; but the women remembered now, 
quite well, that Jesus did tell them He would rise 
from the dead. He was really alive after all. 
How wonderful! They ran out of the garden as 
fast as they could, and told the disciples about it. 

But the garden had had an earlier visitor that 
morning. Another woman, named Mary, had come 
along. She was alone, and it was still dark. She 
was the woman who had washed Jesus’ feet with 
her tears, and dried them with her hair. She came, 
and found the stone rolled away, and she ran away 
and told Peter and John. 

“They have taken our Lord away,” she said. 


202 


A JOYFUL DAY 


Peter and John rushed off at once, and she fol¬ 
lowed them more slowly. When they got to the 
grave, they went right in. There were the linen 
clothes that had been wrapped round Jesus, but 
His Body was not there. John’s face got radiant 
with joy. 

“ I believe He is risen from the dead,” he said. 
“ He raised Lazarus from the grave. He is risen 
Himself.” 

They went home again, hoping and believing, 
but not quite sure. And later, they heard from 
the other women, of the angel’s words. 

But Mary did not go with them. She stood out¬ 
side the grave, crying very much. It was all so 
dreadful, so sad! She did want to see her dear 
Master once again, and now His Body was not 
there. Then she stooped down, and looked into the 
grave again. She thought she saw a light. What 
do you think she saw? 

Two angels in white robes. One was sitting 
where the head of Jesus had been; the other was 
sitting where His feet had been. They looked at 
her, and said: 

“ Woman, why weepest thou ? ” 

Mary answered, sobbing: 

“ Because they have taken away my Lord, and I 
know not where they have laid Him.” 

And then the tears blinding her, she stumbled 
back. She did not wait for the angels to comfort 
her; she did not seem surprised to see them. She 


A JOYFUL DAY 


203 


was too miserable to care for anybody, or anything. 
And then in the dusky garden, she suddenly saw 
somebody else. It was a shadowy figure, but it 
spoke to her in a low voice. 

“ Woman, why weepest thou? ” 

The same question again. She thought it might 
be the gardener belonging to the place, and she 
said earnestly: 

“<Sir, if you’ve taken Him away; tell me where 
you have put Him, and I will take Him away.” 

She thought perhaps the rich people in this house 
and garden had only let Jesus rest there for a day 
or so. And she was determined that He should 
have a quiet grave of His Own, somewhere. 

Then the unseen person said one word only, but 
that word sent the color into Mary’s cheeks, and 
the joy light into her eyes. 

“ Mary.” 

She would know that loving voice anywhere. It 
was Jesus’ voice, and this was Jesus Himself, 
standing there, close to her. 

She turned round' to Him breathlessly, and 
gasped out: 

“ Master.” 

She was going to throw herself down, and clasp 
His feet, but He moved away, and said very gently: 

“Don’t touch Me; I have not yet gone up to 
God; but go to My brothers, and tell them I am 
going up to My Father, and’ your Father, to My 
God and Your God.” 


204 


A JOYFUL DAY 


He moved away from her; the hushes seemed 
to hide Him from her sight; but she had Heard 
His living voice, she had seen Him! And she fled 
out of the garden to tell the glorious news. 

What a happy day that was to the disciples! 
They had been inclined to wonder if Jesus had 
been the Son of God. How they knew He was. 
They knew that they could still believe and hope 
in Him. The past dreadful days seemed like some 
bad dream. This day was a day of joy and glad¬ 
ness. Their Master was alive! They all talked 
together now, reminding each other of the many 
times that Jesus had told them, that He would rise 
again on the third day. He had been true to His 
Word. He had done it. They had been afraid 
that His beautiful life had been for nothing. He 
had died, without showing the world He was the 
Son of God. But now that He was risen from the 
dead, all the world would believe in Him, and in 
His words. 

Yes; that wicked spirit Satan, had made the 
Jews kill Jesus, but God raised Him from the 
dead, to show that He was God, and could not be 
killed. What had happened was this. There was 
a sudden earthquake in Joseph’s garden, and the 
soldiers guarding the grave, suddenly saw a bright 
shining angel come down from the sky, and roll 
back the stone from the door. The soldiers trem¬ 
bled, and shook, and were stunned. Afterwards, 
they made their way back to the Jews, and told 


A JOYFUL DAY 


205 


them that an angel had come to open the door, and 
that Jesus’ Body had disappeared. And all who 
heard this, were very frightened and alarmed. 

Now later that day, two of the disciples left 
Jerusalem, to go to their own home, which was in 
a little village, about seven miles off. These men 
were not among our Lord’s twelve disciples, hut 
they loved Jesus very much, and were very sad, 
and troubled about His crucifixion, and death. 

They were going along through the pleasant val¬ 
leys, and over the green hills, when suddenly a 
stranger joined them. He asked them why they 
were looking so sad, and what they were talking 
about; and then one of them said: 

“ You must be a stranger, not to know what 
things have been happening in Jerusalem.” 

“ What things ? ” asked the stranger. 

They told him all about Jesus. 

“ We hoped He was Christ, who had come to 
save all the Jews. But He was put to death three 
days ago, and some women this morning brought 
us strange news. They said they had been to His 
grave, and that He was not there, and they had 
seen angels there who told them He was still alive. 
Some of us went to the grave, but it was empty. 
We never saw a sign of Him.” 

The stranger said very earnestly: 

“ But don’t you believe what your prophets 
taught you? That Christ must suffer, before Ho 
went back to Heaven ? ” 


206 


A JOYFUL DAY 


And then he talked to them, explaining all the 
places in the Bible, which spoke about Jesus; and 
as he talked, they began to feel much happier in 
their hearts. It was all true, of course it was! 
And if Jesus had died, and was risen, there was 
nothing to be unhappy about. They listened to 
this stranger. He seemed so wise, so full of pity 
for them; and he made it all so clear and simple, 
that they understood things, they had never under¬ 
stood before. When they at last reached their vil¬ 
lage, they felt they did not want him to leave them. 
He was going on farther, but they begged him to 
come and stay the night with them, for it was get¬ 
ting towards the evening. 

So he went into their house with them, and they 
prepared a supper for him. Just as they were 
going to begin to eat, the stranger took the bread 
in his hands, prayed over it, and then broke it and 
gave it to them. 

Why, that was just what Jesus always did! 
Nobody but He ever did that at meal times. They 
started up from their seats; their eyes now saw 
who it was. It was actually their dear Lord and 
Master Himself. There was no mistake about it. 
How stupid they had been not to recognize Him 
before! But as they sprang towards Him, with 
joyful smiles upon their faces, He disappeared. 
He went away from them. They said to each 
other: 

“ Did not our hearts burn within us while He 


A JOYFUL DAY 


talked with us by the way, and while He explained 
the scripture to us ? ” 

They were so excited to think that they had seen 
their risen Lord, that they got up at once, and 
walked all the way hack to Jerusalem, that same 
evening. They felt they must tell the other dis¬ 
ciples, that they had seen Jesus. 

When they got to Jerusalem, they soon found 
out where the disciples were. They were gathered 
together with other friends of Jesus in an upstairs 
room in a house. And they had the doors close 
shut, because they were afraid of the wicked Jews 
comimg to take them prisoners, because they were 
followers of Jesus. These two men slipped in very 
quietly, but the first thing that was said to them 
was: 

“ The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared 
to Simon.” 

Yes^ Jesus had appeared to Peter; I expect 
Peter was so broken-hearted at having denied his 
Lord, that Jesus showed Himself to him to com¬ 
fort him, and to let him know that He had forgiven 
him. 

Then these two disciples told their story; how 
Jesus had walked and talked with them; how He 
had blessed their bread, and how then it was that 
they knew Him. 

They were all talking eagerly together, when 
suddenly in the middle of the room appeared a 
figure of a man. It was not one of themselves, and 


208 


A JOYFUL DAY 


just at first, before they saw Him closely, they 
thought it was a ghost or spirit. 

Then came the sweet, well-known tones of their 
Master: 

“ Peace be unto you. Why are ye troubled ? 
Why do you think such frightened thoughts ? 
Look at My hands, and feet, with the marks of the 
nails in them. Touch Me and see. A spirit hath 
not flesh, and bones, as ye see Me have.” 

They looked at the dear face of their Lord, and 
yet still were frightened, though joy shone in their 
eyes. Could it be ? It must be Him! 

Then Jesus looked round. They were just hav¬ 
ing their supper. He would show them that He 
was not a spirit. 

“ Have you any meat ? ” He asked. 

They gave Him a piece of boiled fish, and some 
honey in the comb. 

Jesus ate this quite naturally, and then they saw 
that He really was alive, and just as he used to be. 

Then He bagan to talk to them, trying to make 
them understand, that He had done Plis Work, and 
must go back to Heaven, and that they must be 
His Messengers, and tell people about Him; and 
how He came down from Heaven, to die for their 
sins, and went back to Heaven when He had done 
it. He told them He must go back very soon. 

They listened; and peace and joy filled their 
hearts. They were very, very happy now. 

When Jesus left them, they were no longer sad. 


A JOYFUL DAY 


209 


They wiped their tears away, and did not feel 
lonely, and forsaken any more. They knew their 
dear Master was living, and any day might come 
and see them again. 

“ Far Christ our Lord was buried once. 

He died and rose again. 

He conquered death, He left the grave, 

And so will Christian men. 

Because for our dear Saviour’s sake 
Our sins are all forgiven; 

And Christians only fall asleep 
To wake again in Heaven.” 

Now one of the disciples, Thomas, did not hap¬ 
pen to be there that night, and when he was told 
what had happened he would not believe it. 

u We have seen the Lord,” they told him. 

“ I don’t believe you have,” he said. “ Not 
really alive! He can’t he. You dreamt it. God 
sent you a vision of Him, and you fancied it was 
really Himself! ” 

“ But we did,” they said; “ He spoke to us.” 

Thomas shook his head: 

“ Unless I see Him myself, with the nail-marks 
in His hands and feet, and the hole which the sol¬ 
dier’s spear made in His side, I will not believe! 
Unless I touch Him with my finger^, and feel the 
nail-marks, and put my hand into the hole in His 
side, I will not believe! ” 

This was wrong of Thomas, because he ought to 
have remembered that Jesus had said He would 
rise again, and lots of people had already seen Him. 


216 


A JOYFUL DAY 


But he was very miserable, and refused to be com¬ 
forted; and he was the only unhappy one of the 
eleven disciples, who went about with Jesus. 

About a week after, on a Sunday evening, 
Thomas joined the others at supper in the upstairs 
room. 

They kept indoors a good deal, and were fright¬ 
ened to walk about the streets much, because of 
being noticed by the chief priests, who had killed 
our Lord. 

Suddenly, just in the same quick unexpected 
way, Jesus stood in the midst of them. 

“ Peace be unto you,” He said in His tender 
loving way. 

Thomas started up. There was no mistake. This 
was no dream, no fancy! It was Jesus, with the 
same sweet holy eyes and smile, but perhaps with 
a little added sadness from 1 all He had been through, 
and with something a little different, as if He were 
standing in golden sunshine. 

And then Jesus looked straight at him, and 
Thomas hung his head in shame. 

“ Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold My 
Bands. And reach hither thy hand, and thrust it 
into My side. And be not faithless, but believing.” 

T think the tears must have come to Thomas’s 
eyes. He cried out: 

u My Lord and my God! ” 

And then Jesus said very gently to him, these 
wprds—and they are a great comfort to all of us 


A JOYFUL DAY 211 

now, who have not been able to see Jesus with 
our eyes— 

“ Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast 
believed. Blessed are they that have not seen 
and yet have believed.” 

Now all the disciples had seen Jesus; and after 
that, He often came and visited them, telling them 
many things that He wished them to do, when 
He had gone away into Heaven to stay. 


XVI 


LAST DAYS 

O HE evening, not very long afterwards, 
Peter told five or six of Lis friends that 
he meant to go fishing. They waiited 
fish for food, and to sell; and so get some money, 
for they were all very poor men. So they pushed 
off their fishing-boat into the sea, and tried hard 
to catch fish, hut they could not do it; all night 
long they dragged their nets' through the water, 
but there seemed no fishes near them. And when 
the sun rose the next morning they were a little 
party of tired disappointed men. I expect through 
that long night, they talked a great deal of their 
dear Master. How often they used to row Him 
about on the sea, how He had helped them some¬ 
times to catch fish, and how once He had walked 
on the water to reach them, when they were in 
danger of being drowned! 

How as they pulled into the shore, they saw a 
stranger standing by the water’s edge, as if he 
were waiting for them. 

When they got near Him, He called out: 

“ Sirs, have you anything to eat ? ” 

They said: “Ho.” 

312 


LAST DAYS 213 

“ Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and 
ye shall find.” 

“What, in this blazing sun, and close to the 
shore ? What is the good of doing that ? We shall 
find no fish here.” 

This is what they might have said; but somehow 
they felt they must do what this stranger told them. 

Directly they threw their net overboard with a 
splash into the water, the fishes leapt into it. The 
net got heavier and heavier. They could not lift 
it back into the boat. 

John, whom Jesus loved so, exclaimed to Peter: 

“ It is the Lord.” 

Peter sprang up with a joyful cry. He Seized 
his fishing coat, slipped it on him, and plunged 
overboard into the sea, swimming and wading, till 
he reached the shore. lie was the first to reach 
J esus, but the others were not very long in following 
him; they came dragging the net full of fishes after 
them to the beach. 

And when they all got there, they saw a little fire 
of coals, with some fish on it, already cooking, and 
some bread. 

How nice and comfortable it was for the poor, 
tired, hungry fishermen to see a meal ready and 
waiting for them! Our Lord had prepared this 
pleasant little surprise for them, because He knew 
they were wet, and cold, and hungry, and He 
always loved to make people happy and comfortable. 
How He said to them: 


2U 


LAST DAYS 


“ Bring some of the fish which you have caught” 

Peter went up to the net, and began getting the 
fish out of it. 

How many do you think were there? 

One hundred and fifty fishes, and they were all 
big fish. Yet though they made the net so heavy, 
it did not break. 

They knew that this was another miracle of their 
Lord. 

Then Jesus said: 

“Come and dine.” 

Do you know, that though they knew quite 
well it was Jesus, they were shy of asking Him 
about Himself! Somehow since He had risen from 
the dead, they felt that though He was just as lov¬ 
ing and kind as He had always been, and spoke in 
His natural voice, and ate and drank with them 
quite simply, yet in a way He was more like God, 
than He had ever been before, and they were a 
little shy with Him. 

This was Jesus’ party. He gave His dis¬ 
ciples the food, and they all thoroughly enjoyed 
that dinner, by the bright little fire on the shore. 
They felt happy and strong again now. After the 
meal was over, Jesus walked up and down the 
shore, and Peter crept quietly after Him. He did 
love Him so very, very much! and he could not 
forget how he had denied Him; he knew that Jesus 
had forgiven him, but he felt that he wanted to 
have as much of Him as he possibly could. 


LAST DAYS 


215 


Jesus looked at him now, rather gravely. 

“ Peter, lovest thou Me more than these friends 
of yours ? ” 

“ Yes, Lord,” Peter answers quickly. “ Thou 
knowest that I love Thee! ” 

Jesus said: 

“ Feed My lambs.” 

What did Jesus mean? He meant that Peter 
must try to tell little children about Him and His 
love; that he must teach them, and feed their little 
souls with all His Holy good words, for He was 
their Shepherd. 

They walked on, then Jesus spoke again: 

“ Peter, lovest thou Me ? ” 

Peter said more earnestly than before: 

“ Yes, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee.” 

Jesus said: 

“Feed My sheep.” 

Then as they walked on, Jesus said for the third 
time: 

“ Peter, lovest thou Me ? ” 

Peter nearly cried; it seemed as if he could not 
make Jesus believe that he loved Him. 

A little time ago Peter would have begun to 
boast. 

“Love You! Pm ready to die for You. If 
all the others leave off loving You, I won’t! I’ll do 
anything in the world for You! ” 

But Peter had learnt his lesson; he was very 
humble now. He felt that as he had denied Jesus 


LAST DAYS 


216 
v 

three times, it was only just that Jesus should ask 
him now three times, if he loved Him. He just 
looked up at Jesus with misty pitiful eyes, and 
said: 

“Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou hnowest 
that I love Thee.” 

Jesus smiled upon him, but He said again: 

“Feed My sheep.” 

Do you think Peter ever forgot this quiet little 
talk ? Did he ever forget to preach to people and 
teach them about Jesus? Never! 

And now Jesus went on to talk to him, about his 
future. He told Peter that when he was a boy, he 
always liked to go everywhere he w 7 anted to, and do 
things as he liked, and Peter knew this was true. 
He had always done and said things quickly, with¬ 
out thinking whether they were right or not. Jesus 
went on to say that when lie was old, his hands 
would be stretched out on the cross, and he would 
be bound and taken where he did not want to go. 

And this was true, for many years after, Peter 
was taken by wicked men, and crucified like his 
Master. 

And then Jesus looked at Peter in His loving 
way, and said, “ Follow Me.” 

That was all Peter had to do for the rest of his 
life, just follow his Master’s steps, even to the very 
death he died. 

As they talked, Peter heard steps behind them; 


LAST DAYS 


217 


it was John, who was longing to talk to Jesus too, 
and he was following them. Peter said in his quick 
way: 

“Lord, and what will John do?” 

It was not Peter’s business to know about John’s 
future. Jesus told him so. 

“ If I ; wish him to wait on the earth, till I come 
down from Heaven again, what is that to thee? 
Follow thou Me.” 

The little talk was over, hut Peter never forgot 
it. And when Jesus left the disciples that day, 
they began to look forward to the next time, when 
they would see Him. They were always thinking 
about Him, because they loved Him so. 

How I must tell you about one more day, when 
Jesus met His disciples, and talked to them. 

This time, He took them out of Jerusalem, as 
far as the little village of Bethany. He had been 
telling them that the time had come for Him to go 
back to Heaven and stay there; that though He 
would still love them, and see them, and be with 
them, that they would see Him no more with their 
eyes, till they came to Heaven to be with Him. 

And He told them He wanted them to stay at 
Jerusalem till God the Holy spirit came to live with 
them in their hearts, and teach them what to do, 
and say. Then after that, they must go all over 
the world, telling people that He had died for their 
sins, and that they must be baptized, and give their 


218 


LAST DAYS 


hearts to Him, and love Him and serve Him all 
their lives. 

Then they asked Him when He was going to be 
King over the world, and make everyone serve Him. 

Jesus said: 

u It is not for you to know the time, when I shall 
come in power; I will come back one day.” 

And then He lifted up His hands, and in a very 
sweet solemn way blessed them all. 

As they looked up at Him, they saw His feet 
slowly move up off the earth, and then very slowly, 
He rose in the air. He had no wings; He did 
not fly up; but just went slowly up in the sky to 
God, and His hands were stretched out as He went, 
and the most beautiful smile was upon His face! 
They stood silent, watching, watching! And then 
a soft white cloud came across the sunny sky, and 
seemed to cover their Master altogether from their 
sight. When the cloud passed, they looked and 
looked, but Jesus had gone right up to Heaven, to 
His own beautiful Home. 

How the angels must have welcomed Him! What 
a glorious burst of music and singing and praise 
must have been in Heaven that day! How glad 
they were to have their own King back in His right 
place again. 

The poor disciples still stood straining their eyes, 
and wondering if Jesus had gone away for good. 

Suddenly two angels in shining white robes stood 
by them. 


LAST DAYS 


219 


u Why do you stand here gazing up into Heaven ? 
This same Jesus which is taken up from you into 
Heaven, shall so come in like manner, as ye have 
seen Him go into Heaven! ” 

The disciples listened, and a great joy filled their 
hearts. They had seen their Lord go up to Heaven, 
and now they made up their minds to do exactly as 
He had told them. They went back to Jerusalem, 
and were continually in the Temple praising and 
blessing God. 

They soon began to preach to people about Jesus; 
and from that day to this, all over the world, men 
and women, servants and disciples of our Lord, are 
telling everybody the wonderful story of Jesus, the 
most wonderful story in the world. 


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